The Queen's Lioness
by lucidatray7
Summary: Everyone knows about the Queen's Guard Dog, Earl Phantomhive, but there was always another who worked closely in England's underworld. The Queen's Lioness, also known as the head of the Vega family. Ciel is ordered by Victoria to work with her Lioness and meets the Vega family head, only to receive a surprise. And is there more to the Lioness that meets the eye?
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Everyone knows about the Queen's Guard Dog, Earl Phantomhive, but there was always another who worked closely in England's underworld. The Queen's Lioness, also known as the head of the Vega family. Ciel is ordered by Victoria to work with her Lioness and meets the Vega family head, only to receive a surprise. And is there more to the Lioness that meets the eye?

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji or its characters, the same goes with ideas that originate from another manga/anime/game/book, etc.

Pairing(s): (possible) SebastianxOC or UndertakerxOC

Notes: General warnings: slight angst, cursing, kind of OC-centric, possibly slightly OOC characters, (possible) spoilers, and Rated T — possibly going to elevate to Rated M. This will be a mix of the manga and anime universes, and it starts out during the Jack the Ripper case. This is the "upgraded" version of "A Raven's Darkness."

**Chapter One: Enter the Lioness' Den**

The day for Ciel Phantomhive started out as a pretty normal day; though he had just gotten away from his fiancee, who could be rather annoying — despite the fact that he cares for her deeply, even if he does have an odd way of showing it.

Ciel was a rather short, twelve-year-old-boy — only being around five feet tall, if not a little smaller. He had a fair skin tone and was somewhat thin. He had dark, navy blue hair with his bangs covering most of the upper right side of his face, and his left eye was dark sapphire blue. His right eye was normally covered by a black eye patch, not covering his eye when he slept or if he deliberately took it off. He sported two rings, one worn on his left thumb that had an ornate silver body holding an emerald-cut blue stone, while the other he wore on his right hand was a gold band with the Phantomhive family crest emblazoned on it. As a noble, he wore expensive clothing — a dark blue, thigh-length jacket over a black vest and white dress shirt; a black ribbon tied in a perfect bow; black pants; and dark brown dress shoes.

However, he had just received a letter from Queen Victoria concerning the various murders of prostitutes. He was ordered to find Jack the Ripper, the murderer's given nickname, and take care of the situation. That was the normal part, the assignment given to him wasn't what offset him. What offset him was the fact that the queen asked him to work alongside her Lioness, a title for another noble family that deals with things related to London's underworld.

He stared at the letter intently, as if just staring at it would give him all of his answers. When it became obvious that he couldn't get any more information on the Queen's Lioness, he turned to his butler.

"Sebastian, look into the Queen's Lioness as soon as possible," he ordered."I don't want to walk into this situation without knowing anything."

Sebastian was a young, handsome man who appeared to be around his early-mid twenties. He was around thirteen inches taller than Ciel, making him around six-foot-one, with a lean, fairly muscular build and a pale skin tone that had a grayish tint to it. He had shoulder-length, raven black hair that had his bangs framing his face and a thick strand swept in between his eyes, and his eyes were a dark red color. He wore a white dress shirt under a dark gray vest; a six button, double-breasted swallow-tail coat; black trousers; and he also wore black dress shoes and white gloves. He had the Phantomhive family crest on his shirt cuffs and a black tie around his neck. He also sported a silver pocket watch with a chain, as well as a chained silver lapel pin that bore the same family crest.

"Yes, my lord," the butler replied dutifully, bowing with his right hand over his heart, before he left the room to perform his task.

*** elsewhere ***

"Milady, you've received a letter from Queen Victoria."

The young woman blinked as she stared up at her butler. "Another one already?" She held her hand out, and her butler placed the opened letter in her hand. "...It seems we're going back into town," she muttered, not exactly pleased; it was the Season after all, and she didn't like the large crowd of people that was sure to wandering about the streets.

"What are your orders, Lady Vega?"

A sly smirk crossed her face. "The Guard Dog will be here later to retrieve his partner for this case. In the meanwhile, make sure that our rat down in the cellar is taken care of," she ordered.

He bowed with his hand over his heart, his eyes closed and a slight grin on his face. "As you wish, Milady."

*** back at the Phantomhive Manor ***

"About fifteen minutes later, Sebastian returned and headed up to his young master's study, a packet of papers in hand. When he reached the study, he knocked on the door once.

"Come in," Ciel's voice shouted from the inside the room. "Well, what did you find," he asked as soon as his butler reached the front of his desk.

"The Queen's Lioness, originally the Queen's Lion, is a title that belongs to the head of the Vega family, and this family is a close friend to the Midford and Barnett families. The current head of the Vega family is also the only Vega still alive today: Ariel Vega," he reported. 'Lioness of God...what a befitting name,' he mused sardonically in his head.

"Anything else? That isn't much to go on," the young Earl stated, mentally expressing his surprise at a female being the head of a major noble family. After all, aside from the queen, there were very little to no females who were the head of their noble families.

"The Queen's Lioness has a more direct role in dealing with the affairs of London's underworld than most families, including the Phantomhives. Like the title implies, she's a huntress who will toy (torture) with her prey until they finally give up the necessary information before she kills them. Unlike you, who will sometimes leave the suspects alive for arrest by the Yard, she always captures and kills. She is also serves as a protector for the queen when it comes to balls hosted at Buckingham Palace, along with the queen's other security forces."

*** at the Vega Manor ***

The door opened to the cellar as Ariel's butler descended the stairs, a lit candelabrum in his hand. He remembered his orders perfectly well: 'Do whatever it takes to get the information from him, but don't kill him until I get there. We have to be swifter than normal because of Earl Phantomhive's arrival.'

When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he opened the door and placed the candelabrum on the nearby table, the three flames lighting up the room and giving it a sinister glow.

On the opposite side of the room, a man had his wrists chained and a metal collar around his neck, all of these chains connecting to their respective places in the wall behind him. Of course, he still had some leeway to move around, just not very much. His condition wasn't the best either: bruises and black eye, cuts that were sure to become infected, and shredded clothes along with his blood-stained shirt.

"P-p-please spare me," the man instantly started begging once he saw the butler enter the room. "I-I swear that I didn't want anything to do with it!" He just wanted to get out of this torturous hell hole.

"Does that mean that you're ready to finally give up," he asked, his voice not showing an ounce of pity towards the man in front of him.

"If I do, will you let me go?" He didn't receive an answer, but as the butler drew closer, he acted out of fear. "PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! I SWEAR DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN!"

Sighing in annoyance, the butler grabbed the metal collar and yanked him forward, choking the breath out of the man momentarily. "It won't do any good for you to yell like that; not only will it not help your situation, but you would also disturb my mistress who is upstairs above us." A dark look entered his eyes. "If you refuse to give me and Lady Vega the truth willingly, then I will simply have to force the information out of you."

Upstairs, Ariel paused in adjusting one of her gloves as she heard the pained, terrified scream of the vermin that was locked in the cellar. However, she quickly disregarded it and continued to finish getting dressed for the day.

"The rat screams like a pathetic pig taken off to slaughter."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji or its characters, the same goes with ideas that originate from another manga/anime/game/book, etc.

Note: Please review or PM me to tell me your opinion on who Ariel should be paired with. Also, constructive criticism would be appreciated, but flames will be ignored entirely.

**Chapter Two: Lioness Meets the Guard Dog**

"Young master, the carriage has been prepared for our departure," Sebastian informed as he came back into the room from performing some of his usual chores. "All that is needed is to retrieve Lady Vega and we can head into London."

"Very well then," the young nobleman replied, getting to his feet and grabbing both his top hat and walking cane — even though he didn't really need the cane. "We'll leave now; I don't want to be in the city for too long."

"Certainly, sir," the butler replied, bowing as his young master walked past him.

The carriage ride was a mostly quiet one; the only times they ever talked — even though Sebastian was driving — were when they were discussing the job/background of the Vega family or things concerning the Jack the Ripper case. It was about fifteen minutes later when the coach stopped and the butler opened the door for his young master to exit, meeting the sight of a rather beautiful mansion.

[A/N: mansion image- 1 . bp . BlogSpot -4GvbhGgX2bs / URQfurctEDI / AAAAAAAAA _ U / 4XNmZLJLgnw / s1600 / inverforth+house+hampstead-0013 . jpg (just without all of the spaces)]

They walked up to the door, the Demon knocking twice before the door was opened by one of the houses servants.

The servant was a man who appeared to be in his late twenties and was about six feet tall. He had pale skin and a lean, fairly muscular frame. He had crimson eyes and shoulder-length, black hair with most of his bangs parted to the left and covering some of his left eye. He wore a white, long-sleeved dress shirt under a black vest and black jacket, black pants, and black dress shoes. He also wore a black tie around his neck and black gloves covered his hands.

In fact, it was almost scary to see how closely Vincent resembled Ciel's late father, Vincent Phantomhive. He resembled the late Earl even more so than Sebastian.

He bowed in respect towards them — more specifically, Ciel due to his title — before straightening himself. "Lord Phantomhive, we've been expecting you," he said, his voice low and scratchy though it was as if he was supposed to speak that way. "Vincent Valentine, butler of the Vega household."

Sebastian narrowed his eyes slightly at his fellow butler; this man, while Human, smelled of blood, and judging by the strength of the scent, it was recent.

Their attentions were drawn when they heard a slight clicking noise behind Vincent and looked past him and to the main staircase as the Vega butler stepped aside. Just reaching the base of the stairs and walking towards them was a noblewoman a few years older than Ciel.

She seemed to be a young woman somewhere around fifteen to sixteen years old. She was a little taller than the average in her age group — standing around 5'7" to 5'8" — with a lean, lithe build and a translucent skin tone. She had long, stark-white hair that reached just a few inches above her knees that was held back in a French braid with her bangs mostly covering her left eye and the rest framing the right side of her face. Her visible eye was a golden amber with copper flecks near the pupil, and it seemed to glow slightly. They only assumed that the other eye was the same color. She wore a white, six-button, double-breasted jacket that ended at her waist with gold trimming and a mandarin collar. The jacket ended at her waist, the middle ending in a pentagonal point. Long white dress pants covered her legs down to her ankles, perfectly free from wrinkles. She wore black gloves to cover her hands and white shoes to match her uniform-esque attire.

Ciel briefly arched an eyebrow when he saw a ring with a beautifully-designed silver body holding a trilliant cut, dark purple gemstone. The ring signified that she was the true head of the Vega family.

"Lady Vega," Vincent greeted, bowing respectfully towards the noblewoman, while a slightly shocked expressions appeared on the faces of their visitors; after all, it wasn't every day when you see a woman, especially one of nobility, wear pants which were meant for males.

Sebastian found himself intrigued; something about her felt different from all the other Humans he'd come across, the same with her butler. Also, like Valentine, she carried the faint smell of freshly spilt blood; however, that did little to affect her natural scent, which fascinated him. Just from her scent alone, he could tell that her soul was one of the purest he'd ever found.

Her single golden-amber eye gave away nothing as she looked at the two standing at the door, almost like she was assessing them in her mind — which she probably was. "Earl Ciel Phantomhive and his butler, am I correct," she inquired, though it was more of a statement and was said out of courtesy. Her voice was calm, smooth, and melodious all at once — perfectly fit for a noblewoman.

The young Guard Dog quickly regained his composure. "That is correct," the boy replied. "I am Ciel Phantomhive, the rightful Earl of the Phantomhive family." He then gestured to his servant. "This is Sebastian Michaelis, my head butler. While we work together on this case, we shall be working from my family's town estate," he stated. "Is this acceptable for you, Lady Vega?"

Despite knowing right off the bat that the younger noble was saying this for the purpose of formality, she nodded once with a small polite smile. "Vincent," she began, her gaze turning towards her butler, "you shall be accompanying me into town… I have a feeling that we will need you later on."

Standing straight with perfect posture, he gave a flawless, graceful bow. "Yes, milady," he replied loyally before opening the door again, queuing them to leave the manor for town.

"We shall ride in my carriage since it is already prepared and will save time. Is that all right?"

Ariel nodded once in agreement; she, like Ciel, didn't want to waste too much time on this case since she didn't want to stay in the crowded town of London for too long.

Sebastian, being the closest to the carriage, opened the door for the two nobles, politely helping Ariel and his young master into the coach before climbing into the driver's position.

"Mr. Valentine, you are permitted to sit inside with your mistress if you so wish to; I have a feeling that she would be more comfortable with someone that she knows and trusts."

Not changing his well-guarded, emotionless expression — something that his employer seemed to share most of the time, in Sebastian's opinion — as he replied, "Lady Vega can easily defend herself without my aid. However, should she not be able to handle the situation on her own, I will be there to defend and assist her should she call for it."

Sebastian's polite smile seemed to grow a little bit more genuine. "That's a good answer, Mr. Valentine," he commended as the other butler sat next to him, though with a bit of distance between them of course. "Lady Vega has a one hell of a butler."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji or its characters, the same goes with ideas that originate from another manga/anime/game/book, etc.

**Chapter Three: Town Estate Antics**

The ride to the townhouse was a quiet one; both family heads weren't big on talking, and Ciel already knew that Ariel had received the necessary information on the Jack the Ripper case, which meant he didn't need to fill in any blanks. While he wanted to know about more about her title (there were some blanks in Sebastian's earlier explanation), he knew that she most likely wouldn't respond or her response would be rather cryptic.

England didn't have lengthy summers; in fact, they were quite short. It was the warmest from May to August, and people called that time the "Season." Aristocrats from all over the country were invited to London for social parties at the mansions of nobles, who were willing to hold a party, during this time.

The raven butler brought the carriage to a stop when they approached the front gates. The town estate was certainly smaller than their mansion on the city's outskirts, but it was still a large building. The estate was made of brown bricks with a blue-tile roof and was three stories tall.

Vincent came around to the side of the carriage first, holding the door open for both his mistress and the young Earl as Sebastian came around to follow his master.

"It's been a while since you've last been out, hasn't it," Sebastian asked his young master good-naturedly before glancing at the young noblewoman accompanying them. "I assume that it's the same for you, Lady Vega," he wondered.

"Actually, we were just in London several days ago," she replied politely, though she didn't reveal whatever for. "I would've preferred to not have come back here until the Season ended."

Vincent nodded, agreeing with her since he shared the same opinion.

"I could care less who sent the letter, I still hate going to crowded places," the boy added with a scowl, having the same opinion about the Season's visitors as Ariel and Vincent. "There are too many people in London."

"It cannot be helped," the raven butler stated a they walked in, closing the door behind them, and headed for the stairs. "It's tradition for the nobility to migrate en masse to town from the country every Season."

"The 'Season,' eh? A waste of time if you ask me."

"Getting away from the manor could be a nice change of pace," Sebastian commented optimistically. "It's a break from _those four_, at least. We can enjoy some peace and quiet for a time."

Both Vincent and Ariel said nothing but deadpanned slightly at the "peace and quiet" part; they highly doubted there would be any of that here.

"Some peace and quiet does sound nice," Ciel agreed, not noticing the expressions of their companions, as Sebastian opened one of the doors to the drawing room, only to reveal the room to be a mess with a couple people rummaging around looking for something.

"Goodness sake, where _do_ they keep the tea in this house," the only woman in the room questioned, searching the book cabinet as she placed another novel on the slowly growing pile behind her.

"I can't find it either," another commented, holding a china vase with his hands, while the third occupant stayed quiet in the back of the room.

"Don't be silly, of course it's not in there," she retorted as Sebastian stared with an empty smile and Ciel's mouth was open with a deadpan expression. Although, the Queen's Lioness and her butler were slightly confused as to why those three — counting the butler, who was sitting quietly in the back of the room — were present; they weren't informed that anyone else would be here, so they had to wonder if they were somehow involved in the case.

"Madam Red! Lau! Why are you here," the young Earl exclaimed, slightly blue from the shock of seeing the duo.

Madam Red — whose real name was Angelina Durless — was a middle aged woman who was a couple inches shorter than Nel and had a fairly lean, yet curvaceous frame. Fitting her nickname, she had red eyes and scarlet-red hair that she kept styled in a bobcut. She wore a ruffled white blouse under a red waistcoat with black trimming, a red skirt, red high heels, and black gloves. She also wore red lipstick and carried a red parasol.

Lau was a Chinese nobleman who seemed to be in his early thirties. He was fairly tall (around 5' 10'') with a slightly darker skin tone than Madam Red, and he had a fairly muscular frame. He had short black hair and, from the few times that he had been seen with his eyes open, brown eyes. As a Chinese nobleman, he dressed in sumptuous clothing from his native country, which included a tangzhuang. He also had his hands hidden in his overly long sleeves.

The third person in the room seemed to be around the same age as Sebastian or Vincent, and he was actually a little short (5' 7''). He had a lean frame with a pale skin tone. He had long, dark brown hair that was pulled back in a low ponytail with a red ribbon, and thin glasses were worn over his bright green eyes. He dressed in rather simple clothing — a long-sleeved, button-up white shirt with an upturned collar and black pants under a black coat. He wore white gloves on his hands, a black tie around his neck, and black shoes.

"Ciel, you're early, dear," the former Baroness commented, looking up from what she was doing.

"Hello, Earl. I've heard that many interesting things are happening here," the oriental man stated, "and your sudden appearance here in town must mean…"

"The Queen's Guard Dog has a new scent to follow," the other finished with a knowing grin on her face

"We had no idea that guests were coming. I apologize for not accommodating you earlier," Sebastian told them, bowing. "I shall prepare tea for you immediately."

"Vincent, go help Sebastian," Ariel ordered, getting a nod of acknowledgement from her butler, before both servants left the room to prepare refreshments.

"Ciel, who might this be," the red-haired noblewoman asked, as if just noticing the younger woman.

"This is Lady Ariel Vega, head of the Vega household," he replied. "Lady Vega, this is my aunt Madam Red, and the man next to her is Lau, a trader and mafia head from China."

"Oh, my… Earl, why didn't you tell us that she was going to be here," Lau inquired. "It's been quite a while since one of her family has shown her face in public, especially while working on the job."

"You mean…" A relieved, yet sad smile came across Madam Red's face. "I didn't think that Lord Vega's child survived the attack, and there was no mention in the papers of her body being found. Though when there were mentions of a Lioness appearing on the streets of London, I should've guessed."

"Madam, it has been a while," Ariel politely responded, a small smile on her face, before turning to look at Lau. "It's nice to meet you, Lau," she told him; after all, her parents raised her to be a 'perfect' noblewoman, so that meant that she had to show hospitality towards any guests — or fellow guests, in this case.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, milady," the Chinese man replied, that ever-present closed-eyed smile on his face.

"We apologize for the delay, but the refreshments have been prepared," Sebastian informed as he and Vincent walked back into the drawing room, both carrying small trays of tea and slices of miniature cake.

As soon as everyone was situated, Ciel was sitting at the head of the table, Lau was sitting to his left, Ariel was sitting to the boy's right, and Madam Red was sitting across from her nephew. The three butlers were standing behind their respective masters.

"He's struck again: another prostitute has been found gruesomely murdered in White Chapel," the young Phantomhive informed, sipping his tea. "These killings are far from normal; the level of violence we are seeing is unprecedented, so that's why _she_ is so worried about it."

"The most recent killing was of a woman named Mary Ann Nichols," Sebastian continued. "It seems that a special type of blade was used on her, using quick cuts and causing a painful death. She was torn up beyond recognition."

"The murderer's distinctive style of killing has earned a rather unique nickname from the press," Ariel spoke up, placing her cup of tea down. "Jack the Ripper."

"A frightening name, aye," Lau commented solemnly.

"That's why I'm here earlier than expected; I hurried into town to look into the situation for myself, and Lady Vega is here on Her Majesty's orders since we are to collaborate on this case."

"The Queen's Guard Dog and Lioness have already been dispatched, but I am not interested," Lau stated, placing his tea cup down on the table as well. "However...are you sure you'll be brave enough to stomach the crime scene?" He'd directed his attention towards the Earl.

"What do you mean by that," he questioned, his single blue eye narrowed slightly.

"I smelled a wild beast at the crime scene — this murderer is definitely an abnormal madman," the older man stated. "The sight of the dismembered body will certainly be horrific, and one can only _imagine_ the _stench_ — blood and gore everywhere," he continued, leisurely making his way towards Ciel's chair. "Surely it would be more than enough to drive some men mad. Are you prepared to see such a thing?" He raised a hand to the Earl's face. "You're just a young boy, after all."

'Is this a sort of test,' Ariel wondered, watching the oriental man with narrowed eyes. She couldn't allow the Queen's Guard Dog to get hurt, now could she? 'However...' Her gaze wandered over to the butler, who was staring at Lau with a stoic expression. 'Sebastian should be able to handle the situation if his master gets to be in danger,' she concluded.

"I am the head of the Phantomhives and in service to my queen. Don't ask foolish questions," the rather jaded child replied coldly, his eye color seeming to darken a shade or two as he glared at the man next to him.

"You're right...so sorry," Lau conceded, though they all knew that his 'apology' was void of any sincerity. "Then take a stroll with me~" he suddenly said, pulling the Earl along almost like a ragdoll and suddenly dispersing the tense atmosphere.

"Wait a minute," Angelina exclaimed angrily, suddenly on her feet, before calming down...somewhat. "Seriously! I rarely ever get to have a chance to have some afternoon tea with my nephew — and this is the first time I've seen any of the Vega family in years — but I can't even enjoy it in peace? I want to go too," she mini-ranted. "Lau, where is this crime scene?"

"Don't you know, Madam," he enquired before losing his grin and sighing. "Don't ask me; I don't know the way either," he admitted, and even both Ariel and Vincent were having slight difficulty in telling whether the Chinese man — or "rat," as Lady Durless referred him as once — was lying or not.

"You talk so arrogantly, yet you don't even know where it is," she questioned, suddenly irate again, both missing Ciel's sigh of tired exasperation.

"Calm down," he told them, not wanting to have a bigger headache than he already did. He also didn't want Ariel to witness such behavior and make a bad impression on her. "I know there has to be at least one person that's been to the crime scene."

"Eh," was the oh-so-intelligent response of the two — supposed — adults, pausing in their quarrel.

"At the time, many people are gathered to see what was going on, but it's far too troublesome for me to ask Scotland Yard for information."

"When they most likely don't have anything of relevance," Ariel added, Ciel nodding in agreement.

"Then what do we do," the red-clad noblewoman enquired, an expression of confusion on her face.

The man next to her gasped, a look of realization and recognition (seemingly) appearing on his face. "My lord, you don't mean…!?"

"There's no other way," the boy admitted before a reluctant expression crossed his features. "It's bothersome to meddle in this case...but I can find someone who works on this case," he said before they all prepared to go into town.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji or its characters, the same goes with ideas that originate from another manga/anime/game/book, etc.

**Chapter Four: Information Gathering**

"...So, where are we," Lau piped up as they stood outside a...peculiar building.

It was a tall building that was in between two others with tannish-yellow bricks. On its front was a rectangular sign, which read "Undertaker" in black font. The purple sign was embellished with a golden-yellow lining and a skull sat in the middle on the top of the sign. Cobwebs were on the projecting corner of the building. Along the front of the building, a coffin rested beside the door, yellow flag and a tombstone rested on the other side of the wall.

"If you didn't know, then what was all that about," Madam Red questioned before turning to her nephew. "And why are you familiar with this kind of place!?"

"This funeral parlor is run by an acquaintance of my lord's," Sebastian informed her while Grell — as they learned the other butler's name was — tried to calm down his employer.

"The Undertaker," she read from the sign, curiosity in her voice, as the raven butler opened the door for the group to enter.

The interior of the funeral parlor consisted of a decent-sized, though dark, room. Coffins were strewn about, some with lids on them and some without, and there was an unlit chandelier hanging from the ceilings. Shelves that held various assortments — most of which they probably didn't want to know what those things were — were lined up along the inside walls, and a desk sat in front of the far wall.

"If we're looking for answers, this is the place," Ciel told his aunt as he walked inside, followed by his servant and other noble company (plus the other two butlers). "Are you there, Undertaker?"

"He-he, he-he~ Welcome~ I thought I'd be seeing you before long," someone suddenly said, chuckling/cackling every now and then. They heard a noise and saw a hand moving aside the lid to a coffin behind them. "My lord, it's so lovely to see you~ Do I finally have the pleasure of fitting you for one of me coffins today," the person suddenly asked, grinning as the coffin lid was completely opened. Angelina, Lau, and Grell completely freaked out while the last of the three was on the floor.

Undertaker was a man who appeared to be in his mid-twenties to (possibly) early-thirties. He was tall — around six-foot-one — and had a lean, fairly muscular build and a pale skin tone that seemed to have a grayish tint to it. He had long, silver hair that ended a couple inches past his knees with a single braid and his long bangs covered his eyes. He had extensive black fingernails and a noticeable scar across his face, neck, and left pinky finger. He wore a long, black robe with gray trimming, black pants crossed with black buckles and black boots secured by black buckles, and a gray scarf was strapped across his chest and knotted by the hip. He also wore an incredibly lengthy top hat that had a black sash extending down from the top, an emerald ring on his left index finger, black beads around his neck, and a chain of lockets secured over his left shoulder.

"I didn't come here to play; I wanted to—" The boy was cut off when the funeral director raised a hand to his face before pulling back again.

"No need ta say; I'm already aware, very well aware. With one look~ I can tell what's on your mind," he said in his strange way of speaking. "One of my recent customers was a bit unusual, shall we say. I helped though; I made her look beautiful again," he informed almost giddily, his hands close to his face before they were hidden by his sleeves again.

"I would like the details, please," Ciel requested politely.

"Please take a seat first, I'll go make tea," the...eccentric man told them.

'Sit where…?' was the thought running through the minds of everyone, sans Ariel who knocked against the closed coffin nearest to her. This earned her odd looks from everyone, except Undertaker and Vincent.

"Wha-what are you doing, Lady Vega," Ciel asked hesitantly, only to earn an arched eyebrow in return. He knew that look; it was the 'are-you-seriously-asking-me-that-question' look.

"Which would you rather sit on? An empty coffin or one with a dead body," she asked rhetorically before sitting down on the closed lid, apparently judging it to be free of a corpse.

"Ah~ Countess of Vega, it's been a long time since you've visited," Undertaker addressed, and the others could've sworn that they heard a slight undertone of fondness in the funeral director's voice.

"It's only been a couple months," she replied, giving a polite smile.

A few minutes later, after everyone was situated, everyone had a...beaker of tea, though all three butlers and Ariel had politely declined. Grell, Sebastian, and Vincent were standing by their respective masters; Ciel was sitting next to Ariel, not wanting to take a chance of sitting on a coffin with a body in it; and Lau and Madam Red were sitting on coffins closer to the door, still nervous around the strange funeral director.

"Now then, you wanted to know about Jack the Ripper," Undertaker asked rhetorically, opening a jar that contained bone-shaped cookies. "Everyone's been scared because of this disturbance...but this isn't the first time I've handled this kind of thing," he said, munching on one of the treats.

"Isn't this the first time? What do you mean," the former Baroness inquired, apparently having not listened the man's words from earlier.

"It's happened before, a case where prostitutes were killed," he graciously clarified for her before extending his hand that held the jar of cookies to the two younger nobles. "Do you want some," he asked the both of them.

"Don't want any," the young Phantomhive told him, leaning a bit further away from the man, while Vega politely thanked him and accepted one of the cookies, munching on it silently.

"In fact, the way they were killed was very similar too," Undertaker continued after retracting his hand. "But in the beginning, the police didn't think much of these cases. Though the murdered prostitutes all had something in common."

"Something in common," Ciel echoed.

"...What is it," Sebastian asked in a polite tone.

"Well now, I wonder what, I wonder what it is indeed," he said with his version of the 'I-know-something-you-don't-and-I'm-quite-proud-of-it' tone as he closed the cookie jar. "Is it bothering you," he asked them.

"I see now," Lau spoke up, "so the funeral parlor is only your cover business. How much is it for information," he inquired, only to lean back when the man was suddenly in his face.

Knowing what was about to happen, Ariel moved further away from the young boy's side as to not get involved/dragged into the ridiculousness of the situation.

"I have no need for the queen's coins; there's only one thing that I want from you!" The silver-haired man turned towards Ciel, his eyes seeming to glow with excitement before he was in front of the Earl. "Please~ my lord! Give it to me and I'll tell you anything," he pleaded, pulling back. "Give me the extraordinary gift of true laughter! Just one joke and all me information is yours," he said, hugging himself, swaying, and giggling excessively.

"Lunatic…" the Queen's Guard Dog muttered under his breath.

"Leave it to my, my lord." They turned their attention to the mafia leader. "Here is my joke — it's a classic: on which side does a tiger have the most stripes? On the outside!" However, no one found anything remotely funny, only staring blankly at the man. "Get it? Ha ha? Heh, heh…?"

Failure number one.

"My turn," Angelina declared, stepping forward. "I _live_ for gossip, so this story's going to make you laugh so hard you'll simply curl up and _die_," she stated, smiling before jumping into her story. Already expecting something, Sebastian covered Ciel's ears while Vincent covered Ariel's. "So Alice's bow gave her the most extraordinary **** for her **** birthday. It was so ******* wide ***** ******with thick veins running down the ******—"

One hour later, both Madam Red and Lau had what looked to be hospital masks with red "X"s tapped over their mouths.

"Now, my lord, it seems like you're the only one left," Undertaker said, fingers interlaced as he grinned at the young nobleman. He was completely unaffected by the scathing glare Madam Red was sending him. He then turned towards the white-clad noblewoman, who stuck out in the dark surroundings. "Unless you would like to try, Lady Vega or Butler Valentine," he said in an almost conversational-like tone.

She merely smiled as her butler politely declined. "Maybe another time, Undertaker," she also declined.

He then turned his attention back to the Earl. "I've been nice to help you out so many times in the past, and I had also given you a special discount last time so I'm not gonna do it again."

Ciel scowled darkly.

A quiet sigh came from behind him, the Earl turning to see Sebastian stepping up. "It can't be helped," the butler commented.

"Sebastian?"

"Everyone, please wait outside," he said, tightening his gloves before looking towards them seriously. "No matter what happens, do _not_ attempt to listen to this."

Like the man — Demon, really — requested, they moved outside for a while, simply standing there in front of the closed door; however, Demon or not, Sebastian didn't know that Ariel and Vincent could still hear through the door.

About three seconds later, they could all hear Undertaker's sudden burst of laughter. It was quite loud, enough to cause the building to shake and for the sign to fall to the ground in front of them. Even the two from the Vega household had slight grins on their faces from what they heard, though they disappeared before anyone could see the smirks/grins.

The door opened, revealing the butler with a smiling face as if nothing had happened. "Please do come back in now; I believe he'll tell us everything we want to know."

As the group stepped back in, they saw Undertaker slumped over a coffin, a wide grin on his face as he still tried to control his giggling.

"Oh my, I've just seen the face of ultimate bliss~" he said to himself, giggling again every once and a while.

"What did you do to him," Ciel asked from where he stood.

"Come, continue...gu fu...whatever you want is fine...gu he he…"

Once everything had settled down again, they returned to sitting on the coffin lids, beakers of tea in their hands — though the same four people still politely declined.

"Actually...I always thought that weren't enough...'_guests_' gu fu…" the funeral director said a little too gleefully in some of their opinions.

"...Not enough," the Demon butler echoed, not really sure what to make of that comment.

"Internal organs, of course," he answered happily. "Don't you think that the eternally sleeping '_guests_' that lay in coffins are so cute? My hobby is to take out the organs for research," he stated, much to the horror of most of the nobles as they looked down at the beakers in their hands.

"This could've stored a kidney before, right," Lau asked rhetorically, a sleeved hand over his mouth as he quickly set the beaker aside. "A criminal could've given it to a loan shark…"

"It could've come from the slums of China," the silver-haired man said, much to the mafia leader's ire, before getting back on topic. "It's an interesting pattern I'm seeing these days; I often get customers who are incomplete, heh."

"Incomplete," Sebastian inquired.

"That prostitute isn't a whole woman anymore; the uterus is missing, which is quite...odd," he replied, holding a body that had _clearly_ been cut into and everything...if it wasn't fake. Who knew with the funeral director? "The killer makes a big mess of da body, but that particular part is always presumptively excised."

"He did it on a road that was public but not high traffic," the raven butler commented as the silver-haired man set the — possibly fake — body down. "Wouldn't an amateur have a difficult time carrying out such a complicated procedure quickly enough?"

"You're a clever one, butler! That is exactly what I was thinking," the man said, walking forward and stopping behind Ariel. Placing a hand on her shoulder and leaning down, he began to explain. "ya see, if he had to act within such a short time, he would slit the throat with a sharp weapon," he told them, using that hand to make a dragging motion over the base of her neck. "Then he rips into 'er right in the stomach," he continued, using his other hand to make another cutting motion across her stomach, "and takes her precious womanly part.

"From the look of the culprit's work," Undertaker continued, "that cruel accuracy definitely wasn't carried out by a normal citizen. It had to be someone experienced." He kept his arms wrapped around Ariel the whole time, but she didn't seem to mind and Vincent knew the man wouldn't do anything to hurt her. Undertaker then extended one arm and poked the young Phantomhive in the cheek, still never really letting go of Ariel. "You should've been able to figure that out too, Earl. It's very likely that the murderer is an expert. Maybe if he knew you and Lady Vega were here, it could lure him out." He drew back, finally releasing Ariel from his embrace. "There'll be more slain, I'm certain. Sadistic killers like 'dis one don't stop until someone makes 'em. Will you stop him? Can you sniff him out? Like a good little Guard Dog," the man asked Ciel, grinning like he always had.

"The world of darkness has the world of darkness' rules. He wouldn't murder random people for no reason. There must be an influence manipulating him from behind," the young boy stated as Sebastian helped put his coat back on. "I am bound by the honor of my family — I eliminate any threat the queen asks me to...by any means I find necessary."

"Lord Phantomhive, I'll catch up to you in a few minutes," Ariel said as the group started to head out the door. Seeing the look on her butler's face, she gave a slight smile. "Vincent, you may stay if you so wish," she allowed.

"Very well. Just don't take too long," Ciel replied, missing Sebastian's interested and slightly suspicious glance towards the two.

As soon as the group had left the building, Ariel gained a small, truly genuine smile while a knowing gleam entered her eyes. "You didn't tell them quite everything you knew, did you," she asked.

He giggled, sounding like a madman, but they were unaffected by his actions. "I should've expected that you of all people would be able to tell. It seems I've never been able to hide things from you~"

"I've seen the corpses of several of the women," she told him. "While the killer is someone with medical skills, most likely a well-trained doctor who works at one of London's hospitals, there are other wounds that suggest someone else was there. However, upon closer inspection, some of these wounds scraped the bones."

"True, but where are you going with this," he asked, knowing that she was on the right track.

"The precision and detail of the cuts of the medically-trained one suggests that one of the killers is a woman," she continued, noting that his grin seemed to widen. That meant that she was getting closer. "However, the cuts that scrape the bone couldn't have been made by the same person; not only are the cuts messier and drawn out, but a woman couldn't have the force to scrape the bone as deeply as these cuts did. In fact, no Human could do this, am I right?"

There was a moment of quiet before Undertaker burst out in laughter, causing the group in the carriage to wonder what in the world was going on.

"You've already figured out half of the case on your own, as expected," he commended, fondness in his voice yet again. "Are you going to tell the Earl about your deductions?"

The thoughtful look turned to a mischievous smirk. "Now where would be the fun in that, Undertaker? The hunt would end too early should that happen, especially with that butler of his," she replied before embracing the funeral director. "Goodbye, Undertaker. I promise that I'll visit again sometime soon," she said.

"Do keep yourself safe, little Lioness," Undertaker told her as the two left his parlor.

"What was all that about, Ariel," Madam Red asked as soon as she joined them in the carriage, sitting next to Vincent and Sebastian while Ciel sat next to Lau and Madam Red.

"Nothing of much importance," the younger woman dismissed as they started to head back to the town estate with Grell driving the carriage. 'Sebastian had brought up a good point that they may have missed while in the parlor — since the murders happened in the late hours of night, the streets would've been pitch-black, so there would be a question that should naturally appear: how could the perpetrators, no matter how skilled, pull off such an act while getting away without anyone's notice? The natural explanation would be that people normally don't, and normally can't, train their eyesight to see perfectly in the dark, and anyone in the area would notice them if the murderer was carrying a lamp or candle,' Ariel thought. 'However, the only non-Human that I've seen so far is Ciel's butler, and he couldn't have committed the murders since he's tied to Ciel.'

There was the road block.

"His information certainly narrows down our suspects," Ciel stated, bringing Ariel from her thoughts.

"First of all, we look at those with the necessary skill set, crossing out anyone with an alibi for the nights on which the murders occurred. Though, the removal of the organs would suggest some kind of gruesome ritual… We should concentrate our investigation on those involved in secret societies," Sebastian suggested.

"As if that narrows the field," Madam Red questioned. "Why even _I_ have the medical skills necessary for this," she retorted, not noticing Ariel's visible eye narrowing ever-so-slightly as she glanced at her family friend. "Besides which the Season is ending soon! Any doctors who followed the nobles to the city will be returning to the country, and then what—"

"Then we shall have to conclude the investigation quickly," Sebastian interrupted, a knowing grin on his face as his gaze briefly flickered towards the Queen's Lioness. However, the glance was unnoticed.

"Impossible," Lau gasped, clearly disbelieving as Madam Red was.

"I should be able to do this much at least, otherwise what kind of butler would I be," he asked rhetorically, keeping the knowing grin on his face and right hand placed over where his heart would be. Ignoring the shocked/skeptical looks he was getting from the two talkative people in the coach, he leaned forward a bit as he readied to leave. Ciel's amused smirk faded as he made a shooing motion with his hand. "I shall draw up a list of viable suspects and begin questioning them for you immediately, my lord," he told his young master before he opened the carriage door. "Now, if you'll excuse me."

Sebastian let go of the door and was gone in a matter of seconds. Ariel and Vincent were acting as if nothing had happened — even though they were slightly curious about how the raven butler went about his actions — while Lau and Angelina had pressed their faces to the window in an attempt to look for the Phantomhive butler.

"He knows that we're _moving_, right," she questioned, the former Baroness seeming a bit frantic, but there was no sign of the butler anywhere.

"Sebastian will take care of it for now," the young lord stated (almost) dismissively, as if he didn't just see his butler pull a stunt that would have killed/maimed most people. "We can head home and have a cup of tea while we wait."

The carriage slowed to a halt as they came up to the front entrance of the Phantomhive town estate, but Vincent was driving instead of Grell since the latter had gotten them lost and had nearly crashed the carriage in the process. Just as Lau opened the door to the building, both he and Madam Red gasped in astonishment; standing a couple yards in front of them was Sebastian, smiling as he gave a polite bow with some rolled up parchment under one arm.

"Welcome back, everyone. I have awaited your return," he greeted before taking the top hat that was handed to him by his young master. "The afternoon tea is ready for you in the drawing room," he informed as Ciel and Ariel began to head towards the stairs, the other three — Vincent had followed his mistress — continuing to stand in the doorway with shocked expressions.

"Hold on," Lady Durless spoke up, having finally found her voice, "how are you here!?"

"I finished up with that little errand, so I made my way home to edify you," he replied easily.

"You made the suspect list _already_?"

"Well, yes. I made a list of names based on what we had discussed, then I contacted them all and asked them the relevant questions," the butler stated, showing them the three rolled up lists he was carrying.

"Come now, Sebastian, that's impossible — even for you," the woman retorted calmly, one hand on her hip. A confident grin curled her red lips, but the raven butler decided to prove her wrong.

"The Earl Chamber's head physician, William Somerset, was attending Earl Howard's party at the time of Mary Ann Nichol's death, thus he has an alibi and was involved with the crime. Alibi…went to a meeting so he has an alibi… Richard Oswald, doctor of the Duke of Bailey was at the White Horse Pub with friends and was not involved… Park was with a friend…secret meeting at the Royal London Hospital… Howard's alibi was a business negotiation….was not involved….nton's head physician, Davi…surgeon of the Royal University of London's hospital, Simon E….not involved. A surgeon of St. Tom's Hospital, O….ate out with his parents…was not related to the incident. Duke Bard's head physician, Nicholas Anthony, was….at the Royal London Hospital performing surgery. Adam…was not….not at the…during the incident, testified by a…."

Ciel and the other two had paused at the base of the stairs, listening to the names rapidly listed off by the younger noble's butler, and the Queen's Lioness had to admit that she was impressed. Ciel himself was smirking, Lau was smiling, Grell had a shocked expression yet also appearing like a star-struck teenager at the same time, and Angelina had this shocked expression while her hat was starting to slide off her head.

"The aforementioned names are the results of my investigation," Sebastian spoke, ending the list and dropping the last roll of parchment on the floor. "From this information, I have narrowed down our list...to _one_ possible suspect."

"Are you're certain you're just a butler, not a military intelligence officer," the former Baroness asked, still skeptic about how the man could do so much in such a small amount of time.

"See, milady, I'm simply one _hell_ of a butler," he replied, smiling with his right hand over his heart.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji or its characters, the same goes with ideas that originate from another manga/anime/game/book, etc.

**Chapter Five: Dance with the Devil**

It was several hours later and they were back inside the carriage, though Ariel was taking a separate carriage to their destination. It saved up space, and she was easily recognizable no matter what due to her hair that she wouldn't have been able to cover up with a wig. It wouldn't make sense for her to arrive with their group, even if Madam Red was a family friend.

"The Viscount Druitt, also known as Aleister Chamber," Sebastian spoke up, adjusting his glasses. "He's graduated from medical school but has never gone into practice. Lately he has thrown several parties at his home, but behind the scenes of these same soirees are secret gatherings that only his intimates may attend."

"I've heard that he's into black magic and those occult sorts of things," Angelina added.

"So your suspicion is that he's holding these parties to hold ritualistic sacrifices of local prostitutes," Lau enquired as the carriage was pulled to a slow halt in front of the Viscount's mansion.

"Tonight is the last party of the Season," Ciel stated as he got out of the carriage, dressed in a..._very_ unfamiliar attire, "which means _this_ is our last chance."

As they began to head towards the door, they heard one of the chauffeurs welcome another guest to the party and turned. As they expected, it was Ariel and Vincent, contrasting like day and night yet again.

The prominent color — or absence of color, in this case — was white, and the dress was nearly floor length. The top part of the dress wrapped over her shoulders and around the top of her chest and back like a scarf, knotting in the middle on the front in the shape of a white rose. The fine material of the dress continued down in a 'sleeveless' design before the scarf-like collar/sleeves, ending to cover the tops of her white shoes. Along the front, black ribbons crossed over the chest in a beautiful corset detailing that tied into small, elegant knots at the waist line. She wore black gloves that extended a couple inches below her elbow, intricate lace patterns covering the fabric, and a silver necklace with a Celtic knot pattern that complimented the collar bone — incidentally also making a shape reminiscent to wings — with a pear-cut purple stone. *

Vincent wore his usual, black uniform. As stated earlier, they contrasted like day and night, but they also seemed to go together incredibly well.

She waved off the chauffeur and approached them, wearing a polite smile on her face. "I'll see you all inside," she told them quietly before entering the building.

The group soon followed and walked into the Viscount's mansion. Looking around, they spotted Ariel making polite small talk with other nobles. They walked over to the relatively empty wall to go over their roles again.

"We all remember our roles, yes," Madam Red asked. "Lau will be my dear husband, Ciel will be my niece visiting from the country, and Sebastian will be Ciel's tutor," she explained, excited for this whole ordeal.

"And what about me, milady," Grell inquired, hoping to be given a nice role as well.

"Grell...is just Grell," she replied dismissively, much to her butler's despair and disappointment. The brunette was basically in his own corner of sorrows.

"And just why do I have to act like your niece," Ciel questioned, a blush of embarrassment on his face.

"Because, dear, I've always wanted a girl who I could dress up," his aunt replied, smiling easily.

"You're kidding me!?"

"You don't want them knowing that you're a Phantomhive, now do you," she asked quietly, her fan near one side of her mouth. "Besides, I've heard Lord Druitt has an eye for any pretty little thing in a skirt, and we do want to catch his eye, right?"

"By any means necessary," Sebastian added. "You do remember saying that, do you not, sir?" He was gaining so much amusement in seeing his young master having to go through all of this.

'How dare you twist my words around like this,' he mentally questioned, scowling darkly at his butler.

"Oh dear, you truly have overdone yourselves," someone said, and the turned to see Ariel and Vincent walking up to them. "I didn't think that you would go this far, Ciel Phantomhive."

"Not. A. Word," he muttered, glaring at the Queen's Lioness when her lips turned up in a small smirk.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, _Miss_," she teased, much to Sebastian's amusement and Ciel's ire. "Now then, I still have to go and talk with some more guests and this party's host. After all, it would be rather impolite and unbefitting as the head of my family if I didn't," she told them before moving towards the crowd, Vincent following closely behind her. What she said wasn't out of arrogance, but out of exasperation. She truly didn't want to make light conversation with the other attendants, but she didn't really have much of a choice; not only was it expected of her as the head of her family, it would also make her appear to be a normal guest instead of the Lioness who was hunting down a criminal.

Oh, the things that they do in service to Queen Victoria.

"W-wait, we'll come with you, Lady Vega," Ciel said, moving to catch up with the Queen's Lioness.

"First thing's first: we need to locate this murderous Viscount," Sebastian noted as they walked through the crowd, careful to stay close to Ariel and Vincent; they could easily provide a good means of exiting or getting away from an unwanted conversation if needed.

"At least Elizabeth isn't here; I wouldn't want her seeing me like this," Ciel sighed dejectedly, trying to be somewhat optimistic about his situation. However, that seemed to be just about impossible.

"I wouldn't come to that conclusion so easily, young miss," Ariel told him quietly.

As if on cue, they heard a very familiar voice: "Oh, that dress is so~ adorable!" They turned with panicked expressions to see Elizabeth Midford talking to two noblewomen. "I love all the dresses here! They're lovely~"

Elizabeth was a young teenage girl around the age of thirteen, being about the same age as Ciel if not slightly older by a couple weeks. She stood around 5'2", which was a couple inches taller than Ciel, and had a fair skin tone with a lean build. She had long, waist-length golden-blonde hair with a cowlick that had a slight curl in the front, and the rest was worn up in two long drills. Her green eyes were big and child-like, shining with a childish innocence. She wore a red and pink dress with white trimming; white gloves; a black choker with two pink roses; red, low-heeled shoes; and a red headband with red and pink roses on it to match her dress.

"Aww, why thank you," one of the noblewomen replied, smiling at her. "Your dress is rather beautiful too," she complimented.

Ciel was twitching and on the verge of freaking out while Sebastian had one hand placed on the small of his back.

"Sir— I mean, mistress, please calm down," he requested quietly. "Let's move quickly—"

However, before they could get very far, they heard, "You in the pink, your dress is just beautiful!" As they thought, Elizabeth was pointing right at Ciel.

"Moving this way now," he whispered, guiding his young master away from the pursuing blonde.

Elizabeth reached a blue-cloth-covered table with a fancy cake on it and looked around. "Hmm, where is she," she wondered before wandering off.

Once she was gone, Sebastian and Ciel carefully peeked out from the other side of the table.

"This isn't good; I didn't expect her here," Sebastian said grimly.

"If someone was to see the head of my family dressed this way…"

"Then the Phantomhive name would be ruined for generations," his butler completed, Ciel blanching at the very thought.

"Let's go join Madam Red," the disguised boy ordered, only find that Madam Red was rather drunk and had attracted a harem of men while Lau fanned her in the background. "Looks like she's having a grand old time," he muttered.

Elizabeth gasped in happiness as she pointed at the girl she'd been searching for. "There!"

Ciel moved to run, but his arm was caught by Sebastian.

"Come this way, my young mistress," he requested before pulling Ciel along towards the balconies. "You there, that young lady over there requires lemonade," he told a butler before continuing to distance themselves from the young Midford.

"Certainly, sir," the butler acknowledged before turning to the approaching young girl. "Lemonade, milady?"

"If you don't mind, sir, we'll both have a glass," Ariel spoke up, nodding her head when the butler handed her two glasses. "It's been a while, Elizabeth. You've grown," she greeted.

"Oh, Ariel~ It's been such a long time, and might I say that your dress is simply lovely," she complimented.

'This child never runs out of energy, does she,' Ariel mentally wondered, handing the second glass of lemonade to the younger lady. "I noticed that you seemed to be looking for someone."

"Oh, yes! I saw this girl in the most beautiful pink dress, and I wanted to talk to her and tell her how lovely her dress was. But she kept moving away, and now I've lost her again."

"That young girl you're looking for is Madam Red's niece who's visiting from the country," she explained. "I'm sorry but she's rather shy since she doesn't know many people here aside from her aunt and her tutor, who accompanied her here tonight."

Out on the balcony, Ciel and Sebastian had hidden behind one of the open doors, the latter keeping an eye out for Elizabeth in case his plan of stalling her failed.

"Why do these things always happen to me," Ciel mumbled.

"I believe that you won't have to worry about Lady Elizabeth for some time, sir," Sebastian spoke up quietly, prompting the disguised nobleman to look where Sebastian was referring to.

He sighed in relief when he saw Elizabeth being busy chatting with Ariel, sufficiently distracted from trying to look for him; however, he knew that Ariel could distract Elizabeth for only so long. "Well, at least she's bought me some time."

"Lord Druitt looks as gorgeous as ever tonight! His hair shines like the sun," they heard a woman compliment, turning to see their suspect chatting with a fellow nobleman.

Aleister Chamber was a young man around his mid-late twenties. He seemed to be of average height and build with a fair skin tone. He had shaggy, light blonde hair that framed both sides of his face, and thick strands were swept between his purple/dark lavender-colored eyes. He dressed in an elegant white suit, a pocket square, an ascot tie accompanied by a red broach and white gloves.

"That's the Viscount Druitt...let's go."

"Yes," Sebastian agreed, and just as they began to head over towards their target, the orchestra began to play another song and couples began dancing all across the floor.

"Damn! I'll never get close to him at this rate."

"We have no choice; we shall have to dance our way over to the Viscount," Sebastian said, grabbing Ciel's hand, and began to walk towards the dance floor.

"You really expect me to dance in public? And with _you_," Ciel questioned, his voice cracking slightly, which made him sound more like the girl he was supposed to be disguised as.

"You already know, young master, that I'm one hell of a dancer. Besides, as your tutor, proprietary allows me to dance with you in public functions such as this one," he replied. smoothly.

"D-do I have to?"

Sebastian chuckled at his young master's plight. "Shall we dance now, young mistress?" They began to move across the dance floor, keeping in step with the music. Keeping an eye on the spectators, Sebastian saw that Elizabeth got away from Ariel and was now watching them dance with sparkles in her eyes. "Cut across like so," he instructed, leading them out of the young girl's sight.

A few minutes later, the song had ended and Ciel was crouched on the floor and panting with exhaustion.

"How could you become exhausted so easily, milady," Sebastian asked as he helped the young Phantomhive to his feet before they heard clapping.

"Your dancing is exquisite like a lovely little robin, my sweet lady," the Viscount commended as he approached them, Ariel actually with him. He then turned towards Ariel and brought her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles lightly like a perfect gentleman. "I enjoyed dancing with you, Lady Vega. I do hope to do so again sometime in the future."

"Thank you for helping me find Madam Red's niece; she was rather worried when she couldn't find her," she told him, dodging his comment. "...However, it seems as if her worries were for naught, so I shall go tell her that her niece is perfectly fine," she said before walking off, knowing that Ciel needed to do this part on his own.

"Young mistress, allow me to fetch you something to drink," Sebastian said before also walking off, heading in the same direction Ariel had walked off in. 'I wonder where Mr. Valentine has gone,' he thought suspiciously before he found his fellow butler conversing quietly with his mistress. From what it looked like to him, it seemed that Vincent was scolding her for wandering off so much. 'How...amusing...'

"I know that, Vincent, but I must keep to my noble status and interact with the guests somewhat at the very least. Also, I've been keeping up with Ciel to make sure he doesn't get found out...at least too early, anyways," he heard as he approached the two. "The game would be boring then if that happened, no matter how amusing the situation would be. The queen wouldn't like it if I allowed one of her favorites be humiliated in such a way, also."

Sebastian glanced back over at his young master, taking dark pleasure in seeing the disguised boy being so offset by the Viscount and his pedophilic advances. When he reached the two, he cleared his throat slightly and smiled at them. "Pardon my intrusion, but I was wondering if I might be honored to have a dance with you, Lady Vega," he requested.

Ariel and her butler exchanged glances, basically telling each other without words that their conversation wasn't over, before she accepted Sebastian's request.

Placing her hand in his, they started dancing to the song, both of them in perfect sync.

"What was it that you wished to talk about, Sebastian?"

"Can I not simply wish to dance with a beautiful woman such as yourself," he asked, feigning innocence, and it was clear that she wasn't buying it at all. "Were you ever going to tell the young master that you had already figured out over half of this case on your own?"

Ariel blinked. 'Was this really all he wanted to talk about,' she wondered before striking the thought; of course not, it's never that simple with people like Sebastian.

"The queen did order you to work together on this case, but while you could've already helped this case move past this, you've stayed back and have let the young master go through all of this."

"You find this amusing as well, don't try to deny it."

"I never did, milady," he replied.

"I didn't tell him because that would be like ending a game too quickly," she answered. "Not only that, but Ciel is still new to London's underworld and detective work, having been the Queen's Guard Dog for only two years now. He needs to figure out the majority of this case on his own; along with being ordered to help on this case, I was also ordered to stay back as much as possible to help Ciel mature. Think of it as supervising, if you wish."

"So you're letting an innocent man get arrested for the sake of your orders?" A sly smirk crossed his face as they continued their little waltz.

"Whoever said that the Viscount was innocent," she retorted instantly, making his smirk falter somewhat. "All of the crimes you have accused him of are true with the exception of accusing him to be Jack the Ripper. He works a slave trade, in the simplest terms, and you're simply doing an extra favor for the queen by arresting Chamber." Her visible eye narrowed. "You also know more than you're letting your young master know, as well as myself. Out of all of us, you're the one who probably has the most knowledge on who Jack the Ripper truly is."

The sly, knowing smirk reappeared on his face. "That will have to be saved for later, milady," he told her as the song came to an end. He stepped back and bowed politely to her. "Thank you for honoring me with a dance, milady, but I'm afraid I have to go help out the young master now." He seemed to simply disappear after that.

"What a strange Demon," she muttered before going off to find Vincent. They were no longer needed, so she decided it was time for them to head back to the town estate.

*** the next morning ***

Ciel slammed his hand down angrily on the table, his small hand slightly covering the front page.

"Jack the Ripper Strikes Again?!" Lau read from the headline.

"So it seems the Viscount Druitt wasn't our killer after all," Madam Red noted seriously.

Sebastian was looking at her and Grell with a suspicious glare while Ciel was shaking in anger at his failure to catch the right person. The raven butler looked over at Ariel to see that she was staring at the paper with an impassive expression before her amber eye met his red ones.

'It seems that I shall have to have chat with Lady Vega later,' he thought when she broke eye contact to analyze everyone's reactions to the newspaper.

* her dress looks something like this - www . aliexpress item/ White - Gothic - Cosplay - Theater - Costume - Satin - Corset - Bodice - Dress - Victorian - Ball - Gown - XS - S - M - 3XL / 908687977 . html (just without all of the spaces).


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji or its characters, the same goes with ideas that originate from another manga/anime/game/book, etc.

**Chapter Six: Night of Death Part I**

The day had gone by tensely. Ciel had been working on the case, trying to find out where he went wrong and what more evidence could he find that would lead him to the right person to apprehend. Ariel would help every once and a while, but as she told Sebastian the previous night, she didn't help much and stayed back most of the time. Madam Red and Lau had gone home for the time being, or they assumed so since the duo had made themselves scarce. Vincent had gone into town on the orders of his mistress to locate something for her.

It was getting late now, and Ciel was still working along with Sebastian. Vincent had just made it back to the town estate before the rain started to pour down in heavy sheets. Both Ciel and Sebastian looked at the other two oddly when Vincent leaned down to whisper something in her ear before handing her a packet of papers.

Flipping through the pages briefly, she looked back up at her friend and butler, ready to give him his orders. "Tell them that we'll reschedule the meeting to 3:45 two days from now, if that's to their liking. I also need you to head back to the manor; the rat should be ready to confess by now unless he's gone insane from being in the dark," she told him as she handed the papers back to him. "Write a message to the queen saying that we'll have her answers soon enough." She whispered something else in his ear before nodding at him once, signaling for him to carry out her orders.

Everyone could tell that Vincent was reluctant to leave his mistress alone, but he had his orders and it was his duty to loyally carry out those orders.

"As you wish, milady," he replied, bowing towards her before exiting the room and soon the estate.

'I have a reason for everything, Vincent, and you know that,' she thought, watching her butler leave. 'You'll come to understand my reasoning for this decision later.'

*** a couple hours later ***

A knock sounded at Ariel's door, making her look up from her door opened a few moments later, revealing Sebastian standing there in the entryway. She bookmarked her place and set the book down on the table beside her.

"Sebastian... does Ciel need something," she enquired, keeping a wary gaze on him as he walked into the room, shutting the door behind him.

"My young master is currently playing a game of chess with Madam Red," he informed, earning a confused look. However, he saw the brief narrowed glance towards the door. "Is something wrong, milady?"

She focused her attention back on the Phantomhive butler. "It's nothing important," she replied dismissively.

A small smirk crossed his face; as skilled of a liar as she was in Human standards, he could still read lie from truth on her. "Now, milady…" He suddenly appeared in front of her, placing one hand next to her head, basically trapping her in the chair. "I don't appreciate liars," he said, smirking at the restrained uneasiness he felt from her.

"Are you certain you have the right to talk about liars," she questioned.

"I'm not sure what you mean, milady," he replied innocently, though the look in his eyes gave him away.

"Now _that_ is a lie," she retorted, not amused in the slightest. "You lie every day, even more than I have to." She paused. "As for what the 'problem' is, I believe you already know. You left your master with one half of Jack the Ripper."

His smirk broadened into a grin, both knowing and mischievous. "One half," he echoed, purposefully ignoring the first part of what she said. "You certainly know more than you let on, milady."

'He's baiting me,' she thought irritably. "I'm quite certain that you already knew this. The fact that you haven't told Ciel yet confuses me, though."

Sebastian smirked again. "I only do what my master orders. I either become his pawn or his knight, depending on the specifications of his orders," he replied, not being really direct. "With the orders he gave me, the only possible suspect on the list is the Viscount, who is clearly not responsible from the papers today and from what you've already known."

"Ciel hasn't suspected non-Human activity," she asked rhetorically, the raven butler not answering. "He needs to consider _every_ possibility, especially since he knows that non-Humans exist," she continued before narrowing her gaze at him. "After all, he has _you_, doesn't he?"

"So you already knew of my contract with Lord Phantomhive?"

'It's hard not to notice a Demon's aura,' she thought, her mental tone set in a drawl.

"Then you should know what happens after our contract is completed," he continued, not waiting for a verbal response; he didn't need one. A thoughtful, interested gleam entered his eyes. "However, you and Mr. Valentine aren't normal Humans, are you?"

Her muscles tensed slightly, but Sebastian still smirked, catching the action and knowing he was right.

"What Vincent and I are does not concern you; the main things you should be concerned with are the wellbeing of your master — your contractor — and the orders you have to follow, not me nor my butler," she replied, ducking under his arm and getting off the chair.

He stayed quiet for a few minutes before smiling that fake, polite smile. "I apologize if I have interrupted your reading, milady. However, I originally came here because the young master will need you momentarily; it's about time to apprehend the true Jack the Ripper."

"...This took longer than I thought it would," she finally commented as she grabbed a white peacoat with black trimming, leaving it draped over her shoulder for the while. 'It's raining, and that's supposed to go on and off tonight. Couple that with the cooling weather, it would be easy to get a chill.'

"Yes, well, tonight will draw the final curtain on Jack the Ripper, milady," Sebastian assured, holding the door open for her like a perfect butler would. He noticed that she wasn't moving from her spot, practically staring a hole through the window. "Is something wrong, miss?"

"...The rats have begun to move about," she replied, walking past him, before they made their way to Ciel's room.

When they reached the young Earl's door, Sebastian knocked twice before entering, Ciel lifting his head slightly to look at his butler. He was only somewhat surprised to see Ariel leaning against the doorframe, her visible eye closed and her expression set in an impassive mask. Yes, Sebastian had told him that her main purpose was to "supervise" him and only help him when he truly needed it. It irked him a little at first, but he did understand the logic behind it all.

"Well then?"

"No matter how I look at it, the result is still the same."

"Yesterday's murder, the Viscount didn't do it."

"Exactly," Ariel confirmed from where she was. "None of the people in his mansion could have done it either."

"Indeed," Ciel conceded. "No person could move that quickly… Anyway, tomorrow we'll start… Sebastian…! You didn't—"

"Of course not, young master; I told you I never lie," the butler replied smoothly. "Now, involved in medicine, ties to secret societies or black magic, lacking alibis for the nights the bodies were found…"

"The only Human that fits your criteria is the Viscount," Ariel continued.

A scowl crossed the boy's face. "You both know more about this than you're letting on, don't you?"

"I am simply one _hell_ of a butler," Sebastian stated. "As you well know, I only carry out the orders my master has directly given me," he said, placing his hand over where his heart should be, before tossing the papers up in the air. "You only need to say the words, my lord, and I become either your pawn or your knight." He placed his hand back on his chest, that knowing grin still on his face. "Now, master, move me into check."

Note: Please be patient! I know Vincent hasn't played too much of a role in this story yet, but I promise that he will soon.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji or its characters, the same goes with ideas that originate from another manga/anime/game/book, etc.

**Chapter Seven: Night of Death Part II**

Later that night, all three of them had gone to the White Chapel area, standing against the wall of some apartments. It was thundering a bit, and they could tell that the rain would start again at any moment. Ciel was dressed differently in order to fit in better with the "common folk," Sebastian just wore his black trench coat over his butler attire, and Ariel was just wearing her white coat.

"They'll show if we stake out this place, right," Ciel asked.

"Yes," his butler replied.

"Well, I've realized the murdered prostitutes have other things in common besides their profession."

"That beautiful, glossy black hair," Sebastian whispered.

"But I still don't understand why he had to kill them," he continued, oblivious to his butler's mutterings.

"So very loveable, it could almost be a sin…"

"What's more—"

"Soft...oh, so soft…"

Ciel started shaking out of anger as a cat whined in Sebastian's hold. "Urgh! Listen when I'm talking to you!"

"I apologize, sir, but she's so beautiful, and soft."

"I can't say that I blame him; this little kitten is rather adorable," Ariel piped up, earning a brief scowl from Ciel, which she only smirked at.

A female scream suddenly broke the humorous air, catching all of their attentions. They knew exactly whose scream it was too.

"How could somebody have gotten past us!?"

"Let's go, sir, milady," Sebastian urged before they all ran to the apartment.

"Ciel, don't—" Her warning came too late; Ciel had already swung open the door and had seen the murder scene, a bit of blood splashing on his face.

Blood was everywhere, coating everything. The woman was lying down on the floor, her blond hair spread about her head, her hand laying uselessly next to her face. Her blue eyes were dull and nearly rolled in the back of her head.

Sebastian quickly came up behind him and covered his eyes. "Come away!" He jumped backwards, still holding Ciel in his arms, who was trembling from shock. Ariel wasn't surprised when he wound up vomiting whatever was left in his stomach.

She looked up when a slight splash was heard, signaling that their killer was coming out of the building.

"You've made quite a bloody mess in there, Jack the Ripper," Sebastian called out. "Or rather, Grell Sutcliff."

The butler came out of the building, covered in blood. "No, no, you're wrong. I-I heard the scream and rushed to help, but—!"

"You can drop the act, Grell; it's over," Ariel interrupted.

"You know, this is actually the first time I've met someone like you in the Human world," the raven butler continued. "You played the role of helpless butler well. Your act had almost everyone completely fooled."

"Though 'almost' doesn't quite cut it."

"You-you think so," he asked in his meek voice before a grin stretched across his face from ear to ear, revealing pointed teeth like that of a shark's. "How kind~" His voice was now crazed and deeper, an insane look in his eyes. "That's great to hear; after all, I _am_ an actress," he continued, pulling the ribbon from his hair and taking off his glasses. "And quite a good one at that." He combed his hair, the brown fading away to reveal bright red, and put on fake eyelashes. "Of course, you're not really 'Sebastian' either, are you?"

"Sebastian is the name my master has given me, so that is who I am...for now."

"Ah, you're playing the faithful dog," Grell noted, putting on a new pair of glasses. "Well, you're handsome enough to get away with it. Anyway, here we are, Sebastian— No," he flipped some of his hair over his shoulder like a girl would've, "I'll call you 'Bassy'! Allow me to introduce myself: I'm the Barnett butler, Grell Sutcliff. What do you say? Let's get along," he said, blowing a kiss at the other butler, who cringed in disgust.

"That's just revolting," Ariel muttered, Sebastian silently agreeing with her.

"Ah~ it's so nice to talk to you in my real form. I must admit that I was surprised when I first met you; I've never seen a Demon playing a butler."

"And I have to say the same about you," Sebastian returned. "I never thought I'd find one of your kind playing a butler either. You're supposed to be an intermediary between man and god."

"A Grim Reaper," Ariel asked, her brow furrowed, and the Phantomhive butler nodded in confirmation.

"Why would a divine being like you pretend to be a servant?"

"Why, indeed. For now, let's just say that it was out of love for a certain woman," Grell replied.

"That woman would be?"

"You don't really need to ask, do you," a familiar voice asked as the woman stepped out of the apartment.

Ciel stiffened before lifting Sebastian's hand from over his eye. "...Madam…"

The woman smiled grimly, her eyes closed for a moment and her arms crossed under her chest. "Well, I hadn't counted on this. I didn't think anyone would be able to tell who Grell truly is."

"Naturally, you were on the suspect list from the very beginning, but all of your alibis seemed flawless," Ciel stated, wiping his mouth to get rid of any remaining bile.

"You mean you actually suspected your own aunt?"

"I was looking for a murderer — degree of relation did not matter. None of the Humans on the list could've been responsible for all the murders, but if one of them had an inhuman accomplice, then that would change the game completely. It had to be someone who enter and leave a room without being noticed, someone who could travel from the Viscount's home to the East End instantaneously. In the end, you two were the only ones who could be Jack the Ripper: you, Madam Red, and Grell Sutcliff," he explained. "I then began to look into what else the victims had in common besides prostitution, and then I realized they had all undergone a certain at the hospital where you work." The boy retrieved a piece of paper from his jacket and unfolded it. "We made a list of all the patients. One, the only one who was still alive, was a woman by the name of Mary Kelly. We knew that if we waited around here, you would come for her eventually." A flashback of the murder scene happened. "But we were too late."

'So he's not as cold as he makes himself out to be,' Ariel thought, looking at the boy thoughtfully. She had listened to every detail raptly, and she could easily say that he was doing his job well — even if some parts made him go to such extremes like cross-dressing.

"My darling nephew and my darling little Lioness, how unfortunate this turned out to be. If you had let it go, then we could've played chess again. But now…" Her fist clenched tightly, her eyes widened with an enraged, crazed gleam. "YOU'VE TAKEN EVERYTHING!"

The revving of some sort of power tool caught their attention. Grell aimed an attack straight for Ciel and Ariel, who quickly wrapped an arm around him and jumped back as Sebastian moved in front of them to intercept the attack. He caught the blade of the flat sides and stopped it just a couple inches from his head. The chains/blades were revolving, making the serrated edge that much more dangerous. Sebastian quickly pushed the other butler away, Grell flipping backwards until he landed a couple feet in front of Angelina.

"What...is that?"

"Grim Reapers use tools for harvesting souls. That is his Reaper Scythe."

Ariel titled her head in curiosity and confusion. "You mean that they can customize those things? How bothersome."

"Indeed," the Demon agreed.

A red tick mark appeared on the Reaper's forehead before he began to rant. "Don't you _dare_ call it that! This is so much more than a scythe! I've worked very hard to customize it! This is a special Death Scythe of my own design! It can hack anyone into tiny pieces!" He sighed, twirling around a little. "Ugh, I've been far too well behaved. I'm getting out of shape. I would love to exercise my skills, so… Shall. We. Play?"

Sebastian's eyebrow twitched. "Perhaps you could be a little bit more respectful of my position," he requested, his tone barely hiding his annoyance. "I'm on duty, after all."

"Such a stoic man you are! That only makes even more irresistible," Grell swooned, waving his chainsaw around, Ciel sweat-dropping in the background. "You know, red is my favorite color. It's perfect for hair, for clothes, for lipstick. So I painted all those women with pretty, pretty red blood," he said as he pointed his Death Scythe at the Demon. "So now, Bassy, I'll make you even better looking than you are! I'll tear you up from the inside, and trust me, I'll make you like it!" He winked. "You'll be as lovely as scattered rose petals."

Sebastian turned his back to the Reaper, undoing his coat. "Your job is to quietly harvest the souls of the dying." He placed his coat over Ciel to shield him from the rain. "As a butler, it is your duty to follow your master like a shadow. You have violated both of these expectations, and quite frankly, I find it sickening," he stated after he'd turned back around to face the two halves of their infamous serial killer.

The grin on his face only widened. "Bassy, you wound me. You know, I'm more deadly efficient than I seem," Grell stated, making devil horns with his hand. (A/N: please don't confuse this hand sign for the "rock'n'roll" hand sign).

"In my name and that of the queen's, I order you, Sebastian, _put an end to them_," Ciel ordered, lifting his eye patch to reveal his Faustian contract mark, which glowed with power at the command.

"Indeed, my young lord," Sebastian replied loyally, pulling his glove down with his teeth. His eyes were glowing fuchsia, and he had a sadistic grin on his face, which was partially covered in shadow.

None of them noticed Ariel's eye briefly flashing metallic, dark cyan-blue before they returned to their normal amber-gold color.

Please review.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji or its characters, the same goes with ideas that originate from another manga/anime/game/book, etc.

Note: FINALLY! Fight scene! Hopefully this chapter is to your liking.

**Chapter Eight: Night of Death Part III**

Grell revved his chainsaw again, chasing after Sebastian who was busy dodging. Even someone like him couldn't afford to get hit by a Reaper's Death Scythe.

"Oh~ yes! Please run away! We can play tag, Bassy!" He continued swiping at the Demon with his chainsaw, reappearing behind him after Sebastian had backflipped, sliding along the ground to put some distance between them.

A gunshot suddenly sounded, and Grell had to quickly move away from Sebastian. He had a slight cut on his face where the bullet grazed him, a small trail of blood dripping down his cheek. Glaring over to where the two nobles were, he saw Ariel holding a gun aimed at him and noticed that she had a second one in her other hand.

Her guns had the same design, both being pistols — the only main difference was that one was black and the other was white/silver. The pistols resembled Desert Eagles, and they had stylized grips that twisted into sharp points. The twin pistols didn't seem like they could be reloaded in Ciel's eyes; they lacked a magazine release or any sort of detachable magazines. Near the bore of each pistol were engravings of scrollwork in silver and an intricate design of a sword overlapping a pair of wings, and each also sported a ring hammer.*

"YOU DARE SHOOT A LADY IN THE FACE!? WHERE ARE YOUR MANNERS AS A NOBLE," Grell shouted. "YOU EVEN GO SO FAR AS TO INTERRUPT MY QUALITY TIME WITH BASSY! HOW DARE YOU!?"

"Your red hair reminded me so much of a bullseye on a target; I couldn't help but aim at it," she replied, an innocent grin on her face, and Sebastian grinned in amusement. "Not only that, but Queen Victoria also ordered me to eliminate Jack the Ripper. It would not do well for me to sit idly by and do nothing while the rats are right in front of me," Ariel said seriously, her eyes narrowed, before she started firing her gun.

Unlike normal guns, she didn't stop to reload, and the pistol was firing a lot faster than a normal gun. Grell seemed to have a hard time dodging. She quickly drew up her black pistol and aimed it from under her other arm, firing the moment Grell appeared behind her and clipping him in the side. She quickly jumped back, practically gliding over the ground and firing repeatedly at the Reaper.

"HOW DARE YOU REFER TO ME AS A RAT!?"

"Easily."

Grell finally got lucky and managed to graze Ariel's cheek. Her eyes widened and felt as if her cheek was suddenly burned, thin streams of film flowing from the wound. Flashes of darkness, blood, three bodies, and a sharp and wicked grin appeared on the film before it disappeared again. The look on her face said it all for Ciel: those images were from her family's murder.

"Wh-what was that," she questioned after she landed a safe distance from the Grim Reaper, her voice still slightly shaking from reliving part of her family's murder.

"A part of a Grim Reaper's job is to replay and examine the lives of those who are the 'To Die' List. From that, we determine what kind of person they were. We see from their perspective what kind of life they've lived, and we decide whether they should live or die."

"Their lives flash before their eyes," Sebastian commented, staring at the wound on Ariel's face where the film had just disappeared.

"Oh, please~ that's such a _pedestrian_ term! It is so much more than that; this was the Grim Reapers' true power: the Cinematic Record," Grell replied, grinning while holding his Death Scythe up and aiming the blade at her.

"I think that is just a terrible interest, and this sort of spying activity...really is the worst."

Her narrowed eye flashed blue again, but this time, the blue color remained, which caught the attention of all present. "To think that you believe you're worthy enough to even get a glimpse of my memories...You're becoming quite the annoying rat," she muttered darkly, holding her right hand out to the side. A glowing circle appeared under her arm. Inside was a large 'Star of David' with a cross and incantations written within the points, and in between the rings of the two circles, small and ancient text was written there as well. "_Sixth Chapter…_"

A spell circle with the same symbol appeared under Grell's feet with scripture circling around it, rendering him unable to escape. Sebastian, Ciel, and Madam Red all looked on — the former with interest and the latter two in shock.

"_Deploy Technique Ritual Fifteen through Twenty-Four_," she continued, a white glow beginning to emanate from the circle under the Reaper's feet. "Holy Blow Revised Fourth Degree." **

Four white crosses of pure white energy suddenly sprang up from the sides of the circle, white feathers also scattering through the air. Some of the stones from the ground cracked and lifted as pressure descended down upon the Reaper. It was clear that the energy from the circle was also beginning to burn Grell.

"L-Lady Vega…"

She looked over at Ciel, her eyelids lowering slightly and making her expression look solemn. "...I suppose that your butler had not told you of my...status," she asked rhetorically.

"I see now, so that's what you are." She turned her attention to Sebastian. "That would explain why I could sense such purity from your soul; you're an Angel."

One corner of lips twitched upwards in a slight smile. "You are only partially correct, Sebastian. I am half Angel."

The revving of the chainsaw caught their attentions again, Sebastian and Ariel quickly jumping away when Grell was finally able to make it out of Holy Blow's spell circle. When the Reaper had his back turned towards her, Ariel began firing her silver pistol again.

"HOW MANY TIMES MUST YOU SHOOT BULLETS AT ME UNTIL YOU ARE SATISFIED!? ALL I WANT TO DO IS SPEND SOME QUALITY TIME PLAYING WITH MY SWEET BASSY, BUT YOU'RE _RUINING_ IT," Grell complained, continuing to dodge the half Angel's bullets.

Just as she was about to get out of dodge again, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist before she was carried backwards, bridal style. Looking up, she saw that it was Sebastian before they landed further away from the flamboyant Reaper again.

"Milady, you have done enough," he told her, setting her back down before kneeling in front of her. "To have forced a lady to go through this much trouble already, I have failed as a butler. I deeply apologize, but I must ask that you look after my young master." Sebastian got to his feet and turned to face Grell. "I'll take over this fight from here."

Her gaze didn't falter as she stared at the Demon that had been bowing before her (never thought she'd see that sight in her life). However, after a few moments, she sighed. "Very well," she conceded, and Sebastian lunged forward to continue the fight with Grell. However, she would interfere if she saw that she needed to.

The clicking of a blade brought her attention over to Ciel and Madam Red, seeing the older woman drawing a hidden knife.

"—then there's only one thing I can do!" She charged forward, aiming her blade straight for her nephew, and managed to cut the boy's arm.

Back over to Sebastian and Grell, the latter had the former backed up against the wall. Sebastian had his hands pressed together on the flat sides of the chainsaw's blade while the teeth were cutting into the brick of the building behind him. He quickly looked up in alarm when he saw his young master get injured.

"You're a doctor! How could you do it," Ciel questioned his aunt, holding onto his wounded arm.

"You wouldn't understand if I told you." She turned around, swiping the knife down angrily. "You're just a child!"

Once again, Angelina charged at Ciel, but Ariel was quick to intervene. She stepped in between the older noblewoman and Ciel, gently grabbing Madam Red's wrist and redirecting the attack to where the blade struck the building beside her head. She looked at Madam Red with a sad expression even as the older woman's other hand was wrapped around her throat, her eyes once again glowing blue but the glow was softer than before.

"Madam, it's time to stop; Rachel is crying," she told her gently, and Ciel's eyes widened at how comforting the Lioness' voice sounded.

Madam Red gasped as her eyes widened, suddenly seeing an image of her beloved late sister overlapping Ariel. "Sister…!"

"Lady Vega!" She was surprised to hear Sebastian calling out for her, as if he sounded worried. However, that was impossible...right? Unless Ciel had given him orders to protect her as well, but she highly doubted it. So, why would a Demon like him…?

Blood sprayed through the air before the Phantomhive butler appeared behind the crying noblewoman, who had dropped her weapon. His eyes were glowing demonic red while a look that promised death stayed on his face. His hand was outstretched and open, ready to crush the woman's skull.

"Stop, Sebastian! Don't kill her," Ciel ordered from behind Ariel, forcing the Demon to stop as Madam Red staggered back slightly and let go of Ariel's neck. "Your arm…!" Sebastian was panting from slight exertion, lowering his hand to grip his injured shoulder.

Ariel cast a worried glance towards Sebastian, knowing that even he could be killed by a Reaper's weapon, before turning back to Madam Red. Gathering the other woman's hands in her own, she spoke softly: "Angelina…don't worry; it's going to be all right."

"Sister...what I've done…" She choked out a sob, her eyes lowered in shame. "It's unspeakable…There's no way for me to be forgiven..."

'Rachel' smiled gently. "Angelina, it will be all right," she repeated. "I forgive you."

"How sweet you are, Bassy," Grell commented, pulling his bloodied Scythe from the wall. "Really, what a prince! Sacrificing your own poor limb to save that woman. On the other hand, you're a disappointment, Madam," he continued, walking over to them. "Come now, hurry up and kill the brats already!"

Madam Red looked up with tears in her eyes, seeing an image of little Ciel and his parents. "I loved my sister… I loved her husband… I loved their child… I can't! I can't kill him. I can't kill their beloved son," she admitted.

"Really, you're getting soft-hearted on me all of a sudden? After all those deaths," Grell questioned. "If you don't end them, they'll end you!"

"Madam…" Ciel trailed off.

"B-but these dear children…" She turned towards Grell. "These children are my—"

She was cut off by Grell's Death Scythe suddenly getting plunged into her chest. The other three's expressions transformed into those of shock as they watched Madam Red's blood spill from the wound in multiple arches.

"Too late for that," Grell said in a demented, almost sing-song-tone with a crazed gleam in his eyes. "What use do I have for you if you're just another woman!?" He tossed her body off his chainsaw, and the three non-Humans watched as the reels of film began to flow from the wound (Ciel can't see the Cinematic Record).

By the end of it, Angelina's body hit the unforgiving ground hard, a single tear falling from her eye and blood trailing down her chin.

"How beautiful you were dyed crimson in the color of your victims' blood. I loved you so." He loosed off his gray jacket and began to walk towards her corpse. "What a disappointment you turned out to be in the end. You don't have what it takes to wear red!" He took the red coat from the body, putting the coat on to where it was hanging off his shoulders. "Your cheap little melodrama ends now. It's over, Madam Red. Goodbye." With that, he began to walk away.

Ciel reached out and closed his aunt's empty eyes. "What are you waiting for," he suddenly questioned, earning the attention of both the half Angel and the Demon. "I thought I ordered you to put an end to Jack the Ripper. It's not over yet," he stated, causing Grell to pause at the mouth of the alley. "One is left. Stop standing there and kill him," he ordered, turning to face his butler.

Sebastian's stunned expression faded into a smirk. "Certainly."

Grell chuckled. "I was going to spare you — professional courtesy and all that — but if you insist, I'll send you and those brats to Heaven together!"

Sebastian ducked under the attempted swipe of the again-revved chainsaw. "Heaven," he echoed. "You're joking." He suddenly disappeared and reappeared standing on the base of the chainsaw. "I know nothing of Heaven." Sebastian moved forward and shot a kick towards Grell, aiming for his face.

The Reaper quickly ducked, a look of horror etched upon his features, before Sebastian moved back again. "YOU WOULD KICK A LADY IN THE FACE!? WHERE ARE YOUR MANNERS, SIR," Grell ranted, practically repeating the words he had spoken to Ariel earlier. The main difference was that he wasn't getting shot at with bullets.

"Terribly sorry," he replied mockingly. "You see, I'm simply one hell of a butler."

"Hmph! You think a Demon like you or a half Angel like her can beat a Reaper?"

"Certainly; if my master tells me to win, then I shall win," Sebastian replied. "Lady Vega is also quite capable of killing you as well, but I cannot allow a lady like herself to go through such trouble."

"You care a lot about those little brats, don't you? Even though you only met one of those kids two days ago. I'm jealous. Demon or not, you'll still be destroyed if I reap you with my Death Scythe, and the same goes for the little half Angel over there. Aren't either of you frightened?"

"Not at all," Sebastian replied, placing his left hand over his chest, while Ariel nodded in agreement. "I belong to my master — my soul and my body, down the last hair, are his. The contract remains and I follow his every order. That's what it means to be a butler."

* Yes, they're basically Ebony and Ivory from DmC: Devil May Cry. Sue me (don't really, please!)

** from Bloody Cross Manga chapter nine; I don't own it.

Please review.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji or its characters, the same goes with ideas that originate from another manga/anime/game/book, etc.

**Chapter Nine: End of the Night**

Grell ran towards Sebastian, swinging his chainsaw at the Demon, who flipped over the blade while staring stoically at his rather flamboyant opponent.

"Here we are, a Demon and a Reaper. I suppose we'll never resolve this," he continued rather dramatically, jumping into the air with Sebastian following, "these feelings that we have forbidden. Oh, my! It's just like Romeo and Juliet!"

Sebastian's face was priceless: a look of complete horror and disgust. Ariel couldn't decide whether to laugh at his expression, feel sorry for the Demon, or shiver in disgust at Grell's words.

"Oh, Bassy! Wherefore art thou, my sweet love, Bassy?" Grell leaned his head back to dodge a kick from the Demon that was aimed at his head, and they both landed on opposite rooftops. "If you would deny thy master and refuse thy name, I know that we could be happy together."

Sebastian grinned. "The moment my master uttered my new name, that word became our solemn contract. I was re-baptized as his, and his alone. From that day, I have been 'Sebastian.' By on the moon, I swear it," he explained, the full moon visible behind him as the clouds moved.

"To swear by something as inconstant as the moon, how can I believe your words? Yet I see your eyes and know that they do what long to do," Grell declared, looking at Sebastian's now fuschia-glowing eyes. "You caress me softly with your unworthy devilish gaze! Oh~ it's too much, Bassy! I would bear your children if only you'd let me!"

"Please stop that, it is revolting," Sebastian deadpanned.

"And anatomically impossible," Ariel added, walking up to the butler, who was briefly taken by surprise; he hadn't noticed her get up on the rooftop.

"You treat me so coldly!" He started up his chainsaw again and ran towards the two. "Beautiful tyrant! Fiend and angelic! My dull feathered raven!" With each name, both of them dodged another attack from the Death Scythe.

"I'm not sure whether to take offense; Sebastian is no Angel, or anything close," Ariel mused, and the Demon smirked in response.

"Oh, Bassy!" Sebastian's punch missed, but it gave Ariel the opening to finally get the chainsaw stuck in the roof, Sebastian keeping it there by stomping on the Reaper's hand. "Bassy, my love, if only cruel morning would never come. Then the two of us could go on like this forever, our love permanently lit by the moon's seductive glow!" He leaned closer to Sebastian, winking at him. "But, no, I'm afraid our adventure ends here." He hit Sebastian with a headbutt, temporarily dazing him. "Should we part with a passionate kiss? No? Then goodnight, my love, a thousand times goodnight!"

She didn't exactly know why she moved, but she did. Just as Grell was about to slash Sebastian with his chainsaw, Ariel quickly shot forward and pulled the Demon out of the way by his collar, but the Death Scythe caught her in the side just under her ribcage. Just as she was about to land, she felt blood start to trickle down from the corner of her mouth.

"Milady…"

"Tch, you cheeky brat! YOU KEEP GETTING IN THE WAY OF BASSY'S AND MY LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER!" Grell ranted as Sebastian caught the young noblewoman in his arms before she could lose her balance completely. Three streams of film starting to flow from the wound as blood stained her jacket. "Oh, well~ Even so, I've never had the chance to see what an Angel's Cinematic Record would be like, so I guess it's not a complete loss."

"_Who are you," a deep, scratchy voice asked. It was Vincent, but he looked different — his hair was longer, he was wearing a tattered red cloak over a black attire, and he was wounded._

_It was night. The full moon was out and partially hidden by the clouds as rain fell from the sky, drenching both of them._

_A younger version of Ariel smiled softly. She looked to be eleven with her hair ending a few inches past her waist. She was also wearing a white dress under a black coat and white gloves. "My name is Ariel Vega. What's your name?" _

"_...Vincent Valentine," he replied, his voice stoic and curt but she didn't seem to care._

I wondered what a man was doing outside the manor, especially as wounded as he was. However, I could tell that we were the same: we were different from everyone else.

_She extended her small hand out towards him, a funny image considering she was only eleven. "Do you want to come with me," she asked, the question catching the red-clad man off guard. "You look like you could use a friend, just like me. We're the same, we're both lonely."_

_After a few moments, Vincent accept her hand and watched as she healed him, a soft blue light emitting from her hand. "What are you?"_

"_The opposite of you," she replied cryptically, her little smile brightening as he got to feet, his wounds completely gone. _

That was the night I gained my first friend. In public, he was my butler, but at home, he became my closest friend.

"_The queen asks me to tell you that she is relieved that you survived, Lady Vega," one of Queen Victoria's butler told a twelve-year-old Ariel as she stood in front of him and the queen, Vincent standing loyally behind her. "Her Majesty also wishes me to tell you, Mr. Valentine, that she is grateful to you for protecting Lady Vega and keeping her safe."_

"_I do not deserve any gratitude," Vincent denied humbly. "I was only doing my job as the Vega family's butler."_

_The queen's butler simply smiled before turning back to the young noblewoman who had just lost her family a few nights ago. "Her Majesty requests you take your rightful title as head of the Vega family: the Queen's Lion — or, in this case, the Queen's Lioness."_

_Ariel curtsied like she was raised to, both out of politeness and respect. "If that is what Her Majesty wishes," she replied loyally._

That day, I became the Queen's Lioness and one of the Evil Aristocrats of London. Many argued that I was too young and that a female, especially a young girl, shouldn't be the head of her family and involved in London's underworld. I ignored them, and two years later, they would be saying the same thing about a young boy named Ciel Phantomhive who had taken up the title of the Queen's Guard Dog.

"_Are you there, Undertaker," Ariel asked, patiently waiting as Vincent closed the door to the funeral parlor behind them. _

"_Oh, what a young visitor I have today~" The funeral director emerged from his coffin, but the two didn't seem to be all that affected by his strange entrance. "Tell me, my young Countess, what is it that you're here for?"_

"_My name is Ariel Vega and this is my butler, Vincent Valentine," she introduced. "You're an informant on happenings in London's underworld, are you not?"_

"_Oh, so you're the one the queen put in charge of this case? How cruel to do that to a child~" His grin merely widened at the glare he received. "However, my information comes at a price, but not just any old price!" At her confused stare, he continued. "You have to give me a first-rate laughter!"_

I honestly thought this man was the most insane person I'd ever met, but I could tell that he was different from everyone else — including me and Vincent.

_She stared incredulously at the mortician for a moment before nodding in acceptance. She gestured for him to bend down and whispered something in his ear. When she pulled away, they didn't have to wait long; he burst out laughing not even three seconds later and gave them the information needed after he calmed down._

"_I have another request," she told him._

"_And what would that be, my little Lioness," he asked, interested._

"_Can you...let me see my parents and brother?" Her voice had turned solemn, and for once, she seemed to be the child her age stated her to be. _

_Undertaker's mood changed, becoming more solemn and serious, before nodding. "Of course, little Lioness. This way." He then guided the young girl and her butler to her family's coffins._

I didn't expect to befriend the insane man, but he became a close friend over time. However, he worked with my father before me, so I suppose that it wasn't that much of a surprise.

"_Jack the Ripper…" Ariel, now at her present age, looked up from the letter in her hand. "...It seems like we're going back into town again."_

"_What're your orders, Lady Vega?"_

_A sly smirk crossed her face. The Guard Dog will be here soon to retrieve his partner for this case. In the meanwhile, make sure that our _rat_ down in the cellar is taken care of."_

"Hmm~ what an interesting life you've lived out, even in your short lifetime," Grell commented, ignoring the harsh glare he was receiving from the wounded half Angel in Sebastian's arms. "I would even go so far as to call it tragic."

"You have made yourself to be a rather troublesome rat," she muttered, much to the Demon's amusement. "Sebastian, you can let go now; I'll be fine."

"Very well, milady," he complied, letting her stand on her own. She staggered slightly but quickly regained her balance, glaring at the Reaper.

"One final time," she muttered before extending her hand. "_Chapter Six… Deploy Technique Ritual Fifteen through Twenty-One… Add together and force insertion of Chapter Twelve Clause One. _Holy Blow Frenzy Sixteenth Degree." *

Another spell circle had appeared under Grell's feet, and he cried out in both pain and shock when a number of white crosses suddenly impaled him, mainly in the arms and chest.

Sebastian was drawn away from his sadistic amusement at watching the Grim Reaper in pain when Ariel started coughing, blood splattering on her hand. "Lady Vega, it would be best if you would rest now. I shall take over from here; you have done more than enough," he told her gently, picking her up and jumping down to where his young master was. He placed her on the ground and against the wall before going back up to the rooftop to finish the fight with Grell. He shot out a kick aimed at Grell's face, which he dodged at last minute, and sighed. "Look at that, my clothes have been ruined again. This is past mending," he muttered, taking off his ruined tailcoat that was torn and stained with blood.

"You must be pretty confident to worry about your clothes right now, but of course, you know that I always appreciate a sharp-looking man. Well done, Bassy," Grell commended, readying his Death Scythe once again. He spat out the blood that was starting to gather in his mouth, promising a very painful death to that half Angel once this was all said and done with.

"There was one technique that I absolutely _did not_ want to use, but I have no other choice," Sebastian said darkly.

"So at last you're going to fight me seriously?" The chainsaw was revved up again. "Shall we settle the curtain down with the next blow? I'll miss you terribly, but perhaps we'll meet again! Farewell!" With that, they leapt towards each other, but when the blade of the Death Scythe began to get close to Sebastian, he suddenly stuck his tailcoat in the base of the weapon, thus jamming it. "WHAT THE HELL!?"

"That was my finest tailcoat. It was made of the highest quality yorkshire wool. It is a very tricky fabric; once it becomes caught in something, it is exceedingly difficult to remove," Sebastian explained, watching as the Reaper tried to pull the ruined clothing out of his Death Scythe.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME~"

"I acquired that coat at the manor. I certainly didn't want to use it for something like this." Sebastian walked up behind the Grim Reaper, who paused in his struggles as he noticed the shadow behind him. "So then, fisticuffs, yes? That suits me quite well," he informed, smiling darkly while cracking his knuckles. "I do have some expertise in that area."

"No! Please, just one request: not my face," Grell pleaded, scared out of his mind, before the beating started. He received two kicks to the face before a punch broke his glasses. This became a regular cycle, streaks of air actually being visible from how fast Sebastian was punching and kicking. The sounds were also rather audible too, meaning that Sebastian was doing quite the number of the Reaper's bones. "I SAID NO FACE~" Sebastian only smirked before punching him square in the jaw, sending him flying over the roof. "PLEASE~ JUST STOP~"

Before he could fall onto Ciel, Sebastian jumped back down to the ground and kicked him in the face again, sending him flying down the alley.

"I am sorry, I seemed to have misjudged the distance, my lord," Sebastian apologized, bowing his head towards his young master.

"You look pretty awful."

"He caused me a little bit of trouble, actually."

"I'll...show you someday," Grell muttered, his face swollen while blood ran down his forehead. Blood was also trickling down from his nose, mouth, and as well as his arms and chest from Ariel's last attack. All in all, the troublesome Reaper looked pretty horrible.

"Oh, dear… I suppose one can't kill a Reaper with bare fists alone," Sebastian mused, picking up the Death Scythe as he walked over towards the battered Reaper. "Well then, I'll just try this: this very special Reaper Scythe." He ripped the tailcoat from the base of the chainsaw. "There, that's unstuck."

"You are one cruel devil," he heard Ariel mutter and merely smiled.

"Now is should cut right through you."

"No! What're you doing!? No, don't—!" He tried to get away, but Sebastian's foot stomped down on his head, applying more pressure to elicit more pain.

"I must say this is much nicer. I prefer kicking to being kicked," he said, digging his heel into the Reaper's face. "Young master, he is revolting but still a divine being. Are you prepared to accept whatever consequences come of killing him?"

"Sebastian, do you need me to repeat my order," Ciel asked in response.

"No, sir," he replied as he started up the chainsaw, Grell crying out in fear and pain. "We finally found something you're good at: screaming. Very well done. As a reward, I shall kill you with this cherished little toy of yours," he said, raising the weapon over his head with a sadistic gleam in his eyes.

'He is definitely a Demon,' Ariel thought, staring at Sebastian with a bored expression.

"No! Please, stop! Don't kill me," Grell begged.

"So sorry." Sebastian obviously didn't mean it.

"I can tell you who killed those kids' families," he said as a last bargain, catching the two nobles' attentions, but Sebastian still moved to deal the final blow. However, before the teeth could gnaw into the Reaper, the chainsaw was stopped by….a pruner?

Looking up, they found another figure standing on the rooftop.

The man appeared to be around the same age as Sebastian, if not a little older. He seemed to be around the same height as Sebastian and had a lean, average build with a pale skin tone. He had short, neatly-combed brown hair and yellow-green eyes with double irises. He wore a white dress shirt under a black vest and jacket; black trousers; black dress shoes; black gloves; and rectangle-shaped glasses, which had four decorative lines on each arm of the frames.

"I apologize for interrupting," the man said as the gardening tool retracted. "Let me introduce myself: I am William T. Spears and Administrator of the Grim Reaper Staffing Association. I've come to retrieve that Reaper there," he informed, pushing up his glasses with his Death Scythe.

"William! Oh, William! Have you come to save m—" Grell was interrupted when William suddenly landed on his head.

"Attention Reaper Grell Sutcliff, you have violated several regulations. First, you killed people not on the 'To Die' List." He kicked Grell in the head. "Second, you used a Death Scythe that had been modified without authorization." He stomped several times on the Reaper's head. "Finally, you offered two people strictly classified information regarding the identity of their relatives' murderer." He delivered one final stomp before beginning to drag him away by the hair.

"Hey! Wait a moment! I was almost killed just now! You are so cold and unfeeling—"

"Shut up!" William threw Grell face-first on the ground by the hair.

He turned to Sebastian and bowing slightly. "I apologize for all of the trouble this thing has caused. Here, please accept my card," he told Sebastian, extending his card by means of his Death Scythe. "Honestly, I never thought I'd see the day when I had to bow my head to Demon scum like you. This is a disgrace to all Grim Reapers."

"Then perhaps you should keep a better eye on your subordinates so they don't trouble us," Sebastian taunted, throwing the card over his shoulder. "Humans are so easily tempted. They will do anything in the grip of utter despair. They will grasp at any threat that promises to save them from unhappiness, no matter the manner of the Human." He glanced towards his young master and Ariel before focusing back on the Grim Reaper. "You should know that."

"That's a charming bit of hypocrisy," William commented as he straightened. "You Demons capitalize on that quality more often than we do."

"That I cannot deny."

"Right now, you seemed to be a tamed dog, which makes you far less dangerous than the rabid mongrels running around free," he said, looking at Ciel for a moment before shifting his gaze over to Ariel, who was now on her feet. Both of her pistols were holstered behind her back, but he knew that she was ready for another fight should one come about. "Hmm...this is rare, a Nephilim. It's rare to find one of your kind alive, especially considering that most of your kind don't make it past the infancy stage in life."

"I guess you could say that I was lucky," she replied, a small hint of bitterness and sarcasm in her voice that the Reaper ignored.

"Yes, well, depending on how strong you are, we may or may not be seeing each other again in the near future. A wound from a Death Scythe will not heal as quickly as injuries inflicted by the weapons of Humans."

"Duly noted."

"Now, come with me, Grell; we're leaving." Once again, the Reaper started dragging him by the hair. "We're already short-handed and here you've gone and landed me with even more overtime. The board is not going to be pleased."

Sebastian suddenly threw the chainsaw towards the Grim Reapers, and William caught the blade between his index and middle fingers. "I'll assume you'll want that, yes," he asked with an 'innocent' smile when William turned back to glare at him.

"Yes, thank you," he said, letting the Death Scythe drop onto Grell's stomach mercilessly. "Now, if you'll please excuse us." He walked off into the shadows, dragging a semi-conscious Grell along with him.

When he knew they were gone, Sebastian let out a silent exhale before turning back to Ciel and Ariel, who was now standing behind the young Guard Dog.

"I'm sorry, my lord. I allowed half of Jack the Ripper to escape."

""It's all right….it's...done." Ciel had a dead, sorrowful look in his eyes, staring down at the covered body of Madam Red.

"You're chill to the bone, master. Let's hurry back to the house now." Sebastian smiled. "I'll make some hot tea for both you and Lady Vega after I tend to her wounds."

"That's a good idea," Ciel agreed, getting to his feet. However, he began to fall, but as Sebastian moved forward to catch him, the boy righted himself and slapped his butler's hand away.

"Master…"

"No, stand back! I can stand on my own! I'm fine, just a little tired...that's all."

Ariel closed her eyes and a soft, white glow surrounded her hand. The sky seemed to glow a light purple before fading away, and all of the damage that had been done to the area disappeared. Looking at the other two, who were staring at the sky to see what had happened, she asked, "Shall we head back to the estate?"

*Also came from Bloody Cross manga chapter nine; I don't own it.

Does anyone want to take a guess at what Vincent is?

Please review.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji or its characters, the same goes with ideas that originate from another manga/anime/game/book, etc.

**Chapter Ten: Attending a Funeral**

Bells rang from the church the next afternoon, carriages pulled up in front of the holy building.

"Wait, brother," a young girl called out as she and her other brother chased after their eldest sibling before the two younger siblings stopped.

"Hey, look, the church is really crowded today," the brown-haired boy pointed out, holding onto the bars of the fence.

"Wonder why?" The girl looked up to her oldest brother for an answer.

"Don't know."

"But you're older than us, so doesn't that mean you should know," the younger boy asked.

"You're stupid," the girl declared, pointing a finger at him.

"Hey, I'm still only twelve! It's not like I'm supposed to know everything yet," the black-haired boy retorted, his cheeks slightly flushed from embarrassment.

"You have a point," someone spoke up, drawing the children's attentions. "At only twelve it would be a shame if you understood what's happening," Undertaker told them, leaning forward on the other side of the fence with his shovel next to him. "Let me explain it: today is a special noblewoman's big day."

"What do you mean, Mister," the girl asked, only to be pulled back by her brother, who was crept out by the silver-haired man.

"Well, it's the ultimate ceremony of any person's life: a funeral."

Inside the church, many were gathered dressed in black. At the front of the room, Madam Red's body was placed in a casket filled with white flowers, dressed in a white gown. Elizabeth was in front of the coffin, her dressed in black with hands clasped together as she cried.

"She has departed from us now, as all mankind must do. Her flesh will turn to ashes, but her spirit will remain," the priest spoke, holding a bible in his hands.

"Goodbye, Auntie Ann," Elizabeth whispered, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

Everything went silent when the church doors suddenly opened, and everyone looked back to see Ciel dressed in a black suit with his hair combed and parted. Sebastian, who wore his trench coat over his butler attire, stood at the door. Ariel, for once, was dressed in black (out of respect for the funeral) and Vincent stood behind her. However, what caught everyone's attention was the red dress that was draped over Ciel's right shoulder.

"You're here!" Elizabeth's voice was filled with relief at seeing the young Earl.

"Is that the Phantomhive boy?"

"With a scarlet dress?"

"How inappropriate."

"Not so; think of how she loved the color red," the other attendant muttered.

Ciel walked down the aisle, ignoring the whispers of the people around him. When he got close enough, he jumped to land seated on the edge of the casket, the red dress draped over the white one.

"White flowers and plain dresses didn't suit you in life and they don't now," he said to the body, retrieving the rose from his breast pocket and placing it in her hair. "You belong in red — the color of passion, the color of spider-lilies. Farewell, Aunt Ann," he whispered, leaning down to where his forehead was almost touching hers.

Everyone turned back towards the door again when red rose petals began to flow into the building. Elizabeth could hear someone singing "London Bridge is Falling Down" as a memory of her and Ciel in their younger years playing the game with Ciel's mom and Madam Red. Outside, Sebastian, Undertaker, Ariel, and Vincent stood in front of a carriage with no doors filled with red rose petals.

"Rest peacefully, Madam Red," Ciel whispered once he had gotten off the coffin and stood in front of Elizabeth.

Later on, after the funeral had ended, Ciel, Ariel, Sebastian, Vincent, and Lau were standing in an empty hallway that would've led out to the cemetery.

"You're not going to report the true identity of Jack the Ripper to the queen," the Chinese man inquired.

"I don't think it's necessary, and Ariel has already agreed with me," the boy replied. "She simply instructed us to stop the incidents, and now, we've seen to that."

"Your world is full of quicksand, and you keep letting yourself sink further and further in. But even if you reach the point of no return and all looks lost, you'll still never call out for help. No, none of us will hear Lord Phantomhive's pathetic screams. The Queen's Dog is too proud for that, the same with you, the Queen's Lioness," Ariel narrowed her eyes at the man, "which makes the two of you formidable opponents. I'll have to be careful around the both of you."

"Now that you mention it, opium dens are beginning to become a problem. If you want to get out, now's the time," Ciel warned.

"If I did that, then I'd have to think of another business to run, and that sounds like more trouble than it's worth," Lau replied as the young Earl put on his top hat.

"Well, you could always go back to your home country," Ariel suggested, her tone stating that she didn't really care what he did one way or the other.

"Oh, but I haven't exhausted my interest in this country quite yet, or, for that matter, in you, my lord, my lady," he replied, pushing off the wall and placing a hand on their shoulders. He then walked off to head home. "I fully expect more interesting challenges from you," he said, waving over his shoulder.

"We have somewhere to go," Ciel said, mainly to Sebastian, as he started walking the other way and following after Ariel. "Come."

Outside in the graveyard, they stopped in front of the grave for Jack the Ripper's last victim: Mary Jane Kelly.

"This is her," Sebastian asked.

"Yes~ indeed it is. My last customer from Jack the Ripper," Undertaker replied, holding a bouquet of white flowers in his right hand.

"Apparently, she was an immigrant. She had no family in the country to claim her body," Ciel spoke.

"So our kind-hearted Earl here hired me to pretty 'er up," Undertaker inputted, poking the boy lightly with one of his long fingernails. "Even had this gravestone erected, a truly noble act on his part, eh?"

"This isn't noble at all," Ciel denied. "The noble thing to do would've been to save her, and I could have if I put her life first. But no, I had to catch them. Apprehending Jack the Ripper was more important. I knew they intended to kill her. I knew and I let her die...along with my aunt."

"You regret what you did, young Earl," Ariel asked, watching the boy carefully.

"No, I don't," he replied. "Jack the Ripper is gone forever, and we have done exactly what Her Majesty asked of us."

"Victoria, aye? I don't much like her," Undertaker said. "She just sits back and watches while you and Lady Vega do all her dirty work for 'er. Doesn't seem fair to me."

"Life isn't always fair," Ariel stated.

"That's what the Phantomhives do; it's our duty. The same with the Vega family. It's passed down through generations along with these rings," Ciel replied, holding up his blue diamond ring.

"That ring reminds me of a collar a master puts on a dog. You and Lady Vega are forever tied to the queen by the leash of duty."

"I chose this life! Stop," he ordered when the funeral director tried to wrap his arm around him, only to have Undertaker grasp his tie.

"Lord Phantomhive, you should be wary of the path which duty will take you; that collar may choke you yet," he warned before letting the boy go. "We wouldn't want that now, would we?" He gave the flowers to Ariel before walking off, picking up his shovel along the way. "Do come by if you need my assistance again. You and hilarious butler of yours are always welcome. As are you, Lady Vega and Mister Valentine," he told them, cackling at the end as he walked away.

'That man...' Ariel thought exasperatingly. "...It's about time I head back to my manor; I've spent enough time here in the city," Ariel said after a few moments. She paused and turned back to look at the young boy. "Goodbye, Lord Phantomhive. It was pleasure meeting you, though I don't think this will be the last time we meet." With that, she walked away with her butler following closely behind. "Vincent, when we get home, make me some Earl Grey tea before you prepare for tomorrow."

"Yes, milady."

The days to come were to be interesting, that was for certain...especially now that they had been acquainted with the Her Majesty's Guard Dog.

It's the end of the Jack the Ripper Arc, and I was able to reach chapter ten! I'm so happy \(^_^)/

Please review.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji or its characters, the same goes with ideas that originate from another manga/anime/game/book, etc.

**Chapter Eleven: On Ice Part I**

A couple months had passed since Ariel had first met Ciel, and they only had a few encounters past the Jack the Ripper case. It was the day of the Frost Fair now, and both Ciel and Ariel would be attending since they had gotten a letter from the queen. Oddly enough, Her Majesty had requested that her Guard Dog and Lioness work together again on this case.

"I heard that you got a visit from the Marchioness the other day," Ariel commented, another white coat over her usual attire. She had another jacket made for her after the Jack the Ripper incident, and she knew that she was going to pay that Reaper back at a later date.

Ciel and Sebastian shivered, memories of the woman's visit still fresh on their minds. "Please don't mention it," the young Earl requested, wearing a brown coat with white fur lining over his normal style of clothes.

"She only wanted to wish you a happy early birthday, Ciel." Yes, they had gotten onto first-name terms. It made sense to them, seeing as to how they were basically of the same rank and how the queen was ordering them to work on more cases together.

"The Frost Fair certainly is an apt title for this," Sebastian noted as he looked around, trying to change the subject from the one Human who could intimidate him just as much as, if not more so than a Demon of higher ranking than himself.

Ariel let the subject drop, taking mercy on them, while Vincent quietly chuckled.

"A large gathering held at the foot of the London Bridge when the Thames freezes over," Ciel replied before glancing around as well. "From what I've been told, it hasn't been held for several decades now. Not since 1814, apparently."

As they were walking around, they heard a merchant clapping, hoping to gain attention. "Step on up, ladies and gents. I got bargains that would blow even Jack Frost away! Buy something for someone special!"

Ciel smirked at seeing the items the man was attempting to sell, especially a certain piece that sat in the middle of the third shelf.

"Is there something amusing," Sebastian inquired.

"Those goods are all of dubious quality. Funtom should settle a stall; any of our products would be better than what that man is selling," Ciel replied before pointing his walking cane at the wooden ship.

"Ah! Hello there, nobleman! You have a good eye! That piece is one of a kind! It was manufactured by the Funtom Toy Company years ago, back when it was only just a small crafts studio!"

"No, _that_ is a blatant fake," Ciel denied. "The Funtom Arcs are rare; only three were ever made. My predecessor employed the talent of an artist incredibly skilled in his craft. Since our estate burned down, even we no longer possess one. One most certainly wouldn't turn up here."

"Noah's Ark...you know, it reminds me of this country," Sebastian stated.

"Why is that?"

"Think about it. A boat captained by a single person, on it filled with the select few who've been chosen to be saved." He grinned. "Rather arrogant, don't you think?"

Ariel hummed thoughtfully before turning to look at her butler. "Say, Vincent…?"

"Hmm?"

"Didn't Mother and Father buy one for me and Valac to play with when we were younger," she wondered, the name of her brother catching Sebastian's attention. However, the Demon butler said nothing, just staring at Ariel contemplatively.

"Yes, it's up in your brother's old room," he replied, Ariel humming thoughtfully again.

"Is that—" They all turned to see an officer from Scotland Yard. If they weren't mistaken, it was Randall's little apprentice, Abberline.

Abberline was a young man, seemingly around his mid-twenties, who was slightly shorter than both Sebastian and Vincent. He had a fair skin tone and an average, fairly muscular build. He had shaggy, auburn-colored hair that he tried to keep somewhat under control and blue eyes. He wore a white dress shirt under a suit, which was covered by his gray trench coat, a green tie, and a bowler hat.

"A Scotland Yard inspector has time to attend the fair," Ciel questioned. "London must be _very_ peaceful...today, anyway."

"It's not! I'm on duty right now," he protested.

"Oh? Well then, we'll leave you to earn your wages in faithful service to the queen and country."

"Good day, inspector," Ariel finished, the group turning and moving away since they weren't exactly involved in whatever case Scotland Yard was conducting at the moment.

"Wait, come back! I have some questions I want to ask you," Abberline shouted, running after them. Just as he was about to catch up with them and grab Ciel's shoulder, Vincent held his wrist in a firm grip while Sebastian moved to stand slightly behind his master.

"Pardon us, my master is a touch fragile at the moment— oh, I mean _sensitive_," the Phantomhive butler said, his smirk widening at the glare Ciel was giving him. "Perhaps you could be a trifle more gentle when you're approaching him."

And that's how they wound up in a tent that served Chinese food and beverages. They were seated to a table, and both Ciel and Ariel had ordered some hot tea. However, Ciel also ordered something sweet to eat as a snack too — as did Abberline.

"Now, what is an inspector from the Yard doing here," Ciel questioned. "What's your business, Abberline?"

"Murder," he replied. "A man's corpse was found this morning trapped in the ice on the Thames. We learned that he was a member of a certain criminal organization. I'm here because Scotland Yard wants to hunt down that man's killer, and we also want to recover a ring that he stole. A blue diamond, one supposedly worth around 2000 quid."

"The diamond, the ultimate symbol of eternal radiance." They turned to see that Lau had approached their table, Ran-Mao with him. "A stone that bewitches all those who see its sparkle. What man wouldn't be inspired to pursue such an exquisite prize, even knowing all that awaits him is eternal destruction?"

"Impossible," Abberline exclaimed, standing from his seat. "How do you know about the Hope piece?"

Ariel's visible eye widened in realization. "You're after the Hope piece?"

"Oh, interesting. Such a gemstone really does exist," Lau asked. "Oh, my…"

"Wha— hold on, but you were sayin'—" Abberline didn't know what to make of Lau's behavior.

"It's best to ignore him; he was blabbering," Ciel told him. "Anyway, Lau, what in the world are you doing here?"

"Ciel, he owns this tent," Ariel informed, a slight grin on her face. The look in her eyes is what Ciel could only translate as pity, and at this point, he didn't blame her.

"Yes, of course he does." Why wasn't he surprised?

"This Hope piece you were talking about sounds fascinating, my lord. Perhaps you could tell me more about it?"

"Have you never heard of it? A blue gem called the Hope Diamond, named after the man whose collection it was a part of: Henry Phillip Hope."

"Don't know it," Lau admitted, sitting in a chair with Ran-Mao on his lap.

Ran-Mao appeared to be around Ariel's age, if not a bit older, but she was several inches shorter (5'1"). She had a fair skin tone and a lean, lithe build. Ran-Mao had large, golden eyes and jet-black hair with thick, square bangs. Her hair was arranged in long braids and cat ear-like buns, accompanied by a pink rose and a golden tassel on the left bun. She wore a short, black and lavender cheongsam, which was decorated with dark-pink petals, and a blue jacket over it. She also wore thigh-high tights, black ballet shoes, and gold anklets with bells.

"It passed to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The diamond is said to be a cursed stone that bring ruin to all who possess it," Ariel picked up. "At one point, it was stolen and cut into smaller pieces to disguise it. Rumor has it that two such pieces still exist," she finished, briefly glancing at the Phantomhive family ring.

"It's as Ariel says, and those shards of diamond would certainly be valuable," Ciel added, noticing that Abberline had noticed the blue stone on his ring. "Tell us, Abberline, is that what you're searching for?"

"The diamond was being moved as evidence, but its carriage was attacked. It was stolen."

"_Intriguing_," Ciel leaned forward in his chair, "give me details. I would like to lend you a hand in this case. Of course, I can't force you, but then, if you _do_ decide to refuse me," a dark grin appeared on the boy's face, "I can see to it that Sir Arthur finds himself in a rather _awkward_ position."

Ariel chuckled; the look on the inspector's face was hilarious. He honestly looked scared of Ciel.

As the group walked down the ice again, Ariel had to keep herself from laughing at several points. Ciel and Abberline were so amusing when put together; the inspector, while obviously scared about Ciel and what power his position held, was still trying to maintain some of his dignity by acting as if he actually had control over the situation. However, the inspector stuttered a bit too much, and Lau's cluelessness only added to the entertainment. Though she could've sworn she heard an instrumental version of "London Bridge is Falling Down" as they walked to…

"A-are you sure this is the right place," Ciel asked after they stopped outside a certain tent, deadpanning.

"Yes, it is," Abberline confirmed. "He set up shop here because so many people have been freezing to death here at the Frost Fair."

"Inspector, you can't be serious! Not him," Lau interjected; they were standing outside Undertaker's parlor, tent version.

"Yes, him and you lot are to wait right here outside! You are lucky that I let you accompany me here at all," he stated as he reached for the non-existent doorknob, only to fall through the tent flap.

"What a hopeless fool," Ciel criticized.

"One of the privileges of youth, my lord," Lau said. "...So, what is this place?"

"It's the Undertaker's parlor," Ciel shouted angrily, getting fed up with Lau's forgetfulness. "You met him during the Jack the Ripper case, remember?"

"Oh, right!"

"Abberline won't last one minute in there. Sebastian, prepare to—"

Ciel's order was cut off when Undertaker's booming laughter interrupted him, even making the little sign fall down.

"You were saying, Ciel?" Ariel only grinned at the glare she received before they walked in.

Undertaker was just getting back to his feet as they came through the flap, still chuckling. "He he he~ I assure you, man, you're in the wrong profession. That was hysterical! You could be a world-renowned comedian. He he he~"

"What did you say to him," the young Earl questioned, still not believing that the man was able to make the funeral director laugh so hard.

"I have no idea," Abberline replied, looking as confused as Ciel. "I was just talking to him normally. He began laughing like a madman."

Only to prove his point, Undertaker was still chuckling.

"How unexpected," Ciel grumbled, glaring slightly. "You aren't without talent."

Sebastian, who had stepped up behind his young master, was casting a dark glare at the inspector. "It seems you are a man to be reckoned with. Most interesting." As far as he was concerned, the only people who had been able to make Undertaker laugh were Ariel and himself.

Abberline leaned back with his hands raised in a peaceful gesture, scared by the look the raven butler was giving him. "But—! I didn't do anything!"

The Nephilim sighed, getting a handkerchief from her pocket. "Here," she said, tossing the cloth at the mortician. "You're drooling again."

He caught the cloth and wiped away the trail of saliva that was dripping down from the corner of his mouth.

Ciel slammed his hands down on the coffin in front of him, breaking up the staring contest between his butler and the Scotland Yard dog. "Tell me more about the ring! I want to know it all! The man you pulled out of the river was the last to have it!"

"Perhaps it was frozen in the ice near where the body was found," Abberline suggested. "You are a citizen of our great country, Mister Undertaker. Please, give us your help in this matter!"

Undertaker giggled. "As I said before, I'm profoundly impressed with you, inspector! I'll tell you everything. Where is the ring, you ask?" He led them outside and to where an ice sculpture of Queen Victoria was standing on a pedestal. "You see? Right there."

The ring was on the finger of the sculpture, and Abberline was horrified.

"Ah, it appears a sculptor must have happened upon the ring and then designed a beautiful ice sculpture to compliment it. Our mystery has been solved," Lau said, crossing his arms.

"Collect the ring right now," Abberline ordered two lower ranked members of the Yard, who instant ran over to carry out the orders.

"What do you think you're doing, thieves," someone questioned just as the police officers were going to break the arm of the sculpture.

"That dear lady will be awarded to the contest's victor," a certain someone said, kissing a white rose and wagging his finger at the officers. "You wouldn't want to defile her now, would you?"

Ciel broke out in a cold sweat, a horrified look on his face. Ariel had to turn her head and hide her grin with her hand.

"Viscount Lord Druitt!"

Oh, the hilarity.

Done with chapter eleven. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to update yesterday, but the bad weather made it to where I can't link to my network for the internet.

Anyhow, please review.


	12. Author's Note

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in the past few days; I've been busy with family and etc. I hope everyone has had happy holidays. Thank you to those who have read, favorited, followed, and reviewed 'The Queen's Lioness' so far. I promise to post more chapters again as soon as possible.

~~~ lucidatray7


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